Condoleezza Rice wants
to bring democracy to the Middle East. Ms. Rice, an expert on what is now
an obsolete subject, the Soviet Union, believes this can be done the way
the United States brought democracy to Chile or Iran or Afghanistan --
that is, by violently overthrowing governments. Does democracy come from
the full belly of a B-52 and the murderous aftermath of coups? (full
article)

The Lineby William
Pitt

Former White House
Counter-Terrorism Czar Richard Clarke has managed to do something that
defies modern political gravity. He has stayed in the news, hour after
hour and day after day. He was hurled many days ago into the maelstrom of
the 24-hour news cycle, which reports one moment on an incredibly
important story, flings that story out beyond the Oort Cloud the next
moment, and that story is never seen again. Clarke, somehow, has managed
to maintain his position at the top of the news despite this process we
mistakenly call "journalism" for longer than any other ten major recent
stories combined. . . (full article)

As in Tiananmen Squareby Tanya
Reinhart

An extensive discussion has
already taken place in Israel regarding the cost-benefit ratio of Yassin's
assassination. But the question of justice has hardly been raised.
(full article)

The United States has delivered George
Bush’s ghoulish brand of democracy to Haiti. The nightmarish components of
Haiti’s ruling troika gathered last Saturday, in Gonaives, the country’s
fourth-largest city – a macabre assemblage that seemed designed to assault
the sensibilities of civilized humans. . . (full
article)

2004 and the Left
by Ted Glick

2004 is turning out to
be an important political year in many ways. For those on the political
Left, the independent, non-Green, Ralph Nader Presidential campaign is
bringing to the fore a number of important strategic and tactical issues,
among them: an assessment of the danger-or not-of a second Bush
administration; what our attitude should be toward progressives in the
Democratic Party; the political and organizational nature of the kind of
"third party" needed; and with whom in the process of party-building we
should be willing to make alliances. . . (full
article)

Open Letter to
Progressive Democratsby Paul Felton

Dear
Progressive Democrat: I voted for Ralph Nader in 2000 and I’m proud of it.
You voted for Nader and you regret it (or, you voted for Gore, even though
you liked Nader better). Ever since then, you participated in a vigorous
campaign to convince Nader and the Green Party not to run in 2004. It is
unprecedented for so many progressive people to fight so intensely to
prevent a progressive voice from entering the campaign. However, I intend
to support Nader and/or the Green Party candidate (and I have not given up
hope that Nader will be the Green Party candidate). I hope you will have
the patience to listen to my point of view. . .
(full article)

Defeating George Bush's Assault on American
Jobsby Dennis Rahkonen

You don’t have to go
far to realize that an economy tenuously on the rebound for Wall Street is
very much in the dumps on Main Street. Just check out the proliferating
dollar stores and paycheck loan providers that both owe their existence to
far too many of us being too poor to shop at “real” retailers or to go
through a month without running completely out of money. Even in cases
where usually at least two breadwinners are struggling to make ends meet,
a shockingly high number of us look at our forebears’ expectation of
seeing their progeny lead better lives than they themselves did...as
totally impossible. The American dream has become a forbidding nightmare.
. . (full article)

Washington Pinocchios and the Lifting of the Veil by Manuel
Valenzuela

In Washington, noses
continue to grow, minds continue to be devoid of intelligence and hearts
have yet to be found. Such is the calamity that is the group of liars who
comprise the Bush administration, nothing more than an amalgam of
unscrupulous beings molded out of the same bed of clay. This clay has
yielded us men and women of similar proclivity towards malfeasance who are
leading us into bottomless sewers of ignoble and hazardous waste. They
have for three years caused us to drown in fear-infested cesspools of
toxic insecurity, causing our emotions and lives to be controlled as they
succumb to the Bush administration’s incessant fear mongering
manipulation. As such, for three years they have been allowed to do as
they please, causing nothing but trouble to our beleaguered nation. They
are called the Washington Pinocchios. . . (full
article)

Being the Government Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorryby Ivan
Eland

The apology of Richard
Clarke, the chief counterterrorism adviser to the Clinton and Bush
administrations, for the U.S. government’s failure to protect its citizens
on September 11 starkly contrasts with the U.S. government’s standard
operating procedure. Sitting government officials, whether in Democratic
or Republican administrations, rarely apologize for any transgressions of
the state, no matter how grievous. . . (full
article)

The
Politics of Ecology by
Tracy McLellan

A Review of Jeff St.
Clair's
Been Brown So Long It Looked Like Green to Me: The Politics of Nature:
For all
the environmental havoc uncovered in these 56 essays it is miraculous we
stll have a planet and any clean air and water at all. St. Clair co-edits
Counterpunch,
along with Alexander Cockburn. To get a sense of the dimensions of what
we’ve lost, he says, you have to “get the feel of your fingers skimming
over 800 grow rings on the stump of a Douglas fir,” which is all that’s
left of ninety-five percent of the old growth forests of the Pacific
Northwest. This book is a dire warning, the work of a singular
investigative journalist and master story-teller. . . (full
article)

When most people think
of Costa Rica, they don't imagine oil rigs stationed off the pristine
beaches. Nor do they envision pit mines cutting into the cloud-forested
mountains. But, despite the country's noteworthy conservation efforts, its
scenic vistas and extraordinary biodiversity have faced real threats from
extractive industries -- and are now endangered by international trade
deals. . . (full article)

The
British Threat: By Hardening its Position on Nuclear Weapons,
Labour is Encouraging Proliferation by George
Monbiot

The paradox of modern
warfare works like this: by enhancing our military strength, we enhance
our opponents' capacity to destroy us. The Russian state developed
thermobaric bombs (which release a cloud of explosive material into the
air) for use against Muslim guerillas. Now, according to New Scientist,
Muslim terrorists are trying to copy them. The United States has been
producing weaponized anthrax, ostensibly to anticipate terrorist threats.
In 2001, anthrax stolen from this programme was used to terrorize America.
The greatest horrors with which terrorists might threaten us are those
whose development we funded. . .
(full article)

Terrorist Snipers,
their Media Allies and Defense of Democracy: Last Part of an Interview by
Heinz Dieterich with Venezuelan Armed Forces Commander General Raúl Baduel
Translated with an Introductory Note by Toni Solo

Senator
John Kerry's recent aggressive declaration on Venezuela confirms that
whoever is in the White House, Venezuela will remain subject to
intervention from the United States government and its allies. The role of
the Venezuelan army in the face of this reality will be crucial to defend
peace and democracy in Venezuela. The first part of this interview,
published earlier, covered issues of US intervention, relations with
Colombia, and efforts by the government's opponents to create an
atmosphere of crisis inside the country. In this final part of the
interview, General Raúl Baduel, head of the Venezuelan army explains to
Heinz Dieterich efforts to combat terrorist snipers and the role of media
manipulation. Baduel ends with a call for respect for democracy and
peaceful coexistence. . . (full
interview)

March 29

Robert Novak's Allies by Justin Felux

What do conservative
pundit Robert Novak and rapper Ice-T have in common? Believe it or not,
they have both glorified murdering policemen. Ice-T did it in his
controversial song, "Cop Killer," which he made to protest police
brutality. Robert Novak did it more recently when he hailed Guy Philippe's
cop-murdering thugs in Haiti as "freedom fighters." Ice-T's song caused a
firestorm of controversy among the righteous right in this country, but so
far Novak's disgraceful comments have gone unpunished. In another recent
column titled "Aristide's Allies," Novak suggests that those who support
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide as the duly elected leader of Haiti are
only doing so because of seedy financial ties with the exiled leader. What
Novak doesn't tell his readers is that he has a history as an apologist
for anti-Aristide death squads in Haiti. . . (full
article)

Snow Jobby Seth Sandronsky

The
Bush White House is picking up its campaign against the U.S. working
class. Recently, Treasury Secretary John Snow said that Medicare, the
nation’s system of public health care for seniors and the disabled, will
be bankrupt in 2019. Bush’s solution is to turn more of Medicare over to
health maintenance organizations and pharmaceutical corporations. They are
big donors to him and the GOP generally. Meanwhile, Snow wants the
American public to think that government spending to meet its needs is
at-risk. A frightened citizenry is his goal. . . (full
article)

Jihad Comes Full Circle: The US and
Pakistan in Afghanistanby Sonali
Kolhatkar

In
January 2004, the Chicago Tribune cited military sources in Washington
planning a "spring offensive" on the border region between Pakistan and
Afghanistan "that would reach inside Pakistan with the goal of destroying
Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network." That offensive has clearly begun with
recent troop deployments in the border region of Pakistan and Afghanistan
. . . The US eagerness to work with Pakistan and even clear arms sales in
violation of its own laws seems surprising -- it comes on the heels of a
revelation that the founder of Pakistan's nuclear program, Abdul Qadeer
Khan, had been selling nuclear secrets to countries like Libya, Iran and
North Korea. Additionally, only three years ago Pakistan was one of three
countries that recognized the Taliban as legitimate rulers of Afghanistan,
and is widely known as having actually nurtured and sponsored the Taliban.
. . . (full article)

Israel, Suicide Nation
by M. Junaid Alam

Politics, being the art
of deception, must certainly recognize Israel as its Da Vinci. Its smug
self-portrait as a ‘civilized democracy’, rendered with brushes dipped
deeply in the oil paint of antipathy for Arabs, has won much admiration
among impressionable Americans. Galvanizing and amplifying latent Western
hatred of Muslim Arabs in order to rally the West under the banner of
‘Judeo-Christian civilization’, and intimidating doubters by abusing the
memory of the Holocaust to claim special ‘unique victim’ status, Israel
intones, ‘Stand with us because we are white and bomb towel-heads
in F-16s just as you do, and don’t dare stand against us because
you once persecuted our forefathers and should atone for your sins – by
abetting ours.’ The result of this most cynical ploy is that the
Palestinians, dark-skinned victims of Israel’s perpetual campaign of
ethnic cleansing, torture, theft, and humiliation, are always grotesquely
caricatured as mindless savages with a fetish for suicide attacks. There
is, however, one major credibility problem with this racist rhetoric:
Israel itself is in the process of committing suicide. . . (full
article)

Jerusalem: A few hours
after the Israeli military assassinated Hamas’s spiritual leader Sheikh
Ahmad Yassin, I entered the classroom in order to teach my politics of
human rights course. Everyone had already heard about the extra-judicial
execution, so I asked my students whether they felt safer. The response
was unanimous: they all felt more vulnerable. . . (full
article)

The Continued Reverse Ethnic Cleansing in
Kosovo:
Too Embarrassing for the International Community
by Jan Oberg

Back to Square One. A
few days before the 5th Anniversary of the war against what was then
called Yugoslavia, ethnic cleansing again reared its ugly head in the
Balkans. Carl Bildt, most knowledgeable and clear-sighted former diplomat
in the region, said that we saw five years of international policy go up
in flames. Bildt is right in substance but his time perspective is too
short; it is 15 years of Western conflict (mis)management policies that
has gone up in flames. And indeed, some have reasons to try to play down
this catastrophe and its consequences: the international so-called
community and its allies, the Albanian leadership in Kosovo...
(full article)

In the east coast
Canadian city of Halifax, there existed a community of Afro-Canadians that
once numbered almost 400 citizens. Situated in the north of the city on
the shoreline of Bedford Basin, Africville was first settled in the 1700s
and as a result of “environmental racism” developed into a shantytown.
Human rights activist Denise Allen outlined how Africville came to be
surrounded by, among other industries, “three systems of railway tracks;
an open city dump; disposal pits for Halifax toxic waste; a hospital for
infectious diseases; a stone and coal crushing plant; a toxic waste dump;
a bone-meal plant; a cotton factory; a rolling mill/nail factory; a
slaughterhouse; sewage disposal units; a prison; and a port facility for
handling coal.” . . . (full article)

And Now For Some Good News
by Barbara Sumner Burstyn

I rang my mum the other
day. "Your column was good this week, dear," she said, and then paused,
"but don't you ever have anything good to say?" She has a point. I seem to
have the kind of mind that gravitates towards the negative, the underhand
and the dishonest. In direct contrast to me, my mother is the living
example of the old saying that if you haven't got anything nice to say,
don't say anything at all. So in honor of my mum, here's a few good things
I've come across recently. . . (full
article)

Just My Imagination: Tommy
Boy Friedman Does "Imagine"by Mickey Z.

I keep telling
myself to stop wasting time critiquing Thomas L. Friedman. No one can
possibly top the self-inflicted damage he does merely by putting his
laughable words on the New York Times op-ed page. But then he goes and
outdoes himself...and here I am, furiously typing up an article. . . (full
article)

March 27-28

The Passion of the DonaldGetting in Touch With Your Inner
Psychopathby Leilla Matsui and Seth Sandronsky

Donald Trump is to
corporate America what Mel Gibson is to Hollywood these days -- a savior.
After taking a well-deserved albeit symbolic spanking over Enron, Tyco and
Halliburton to name just a few, America's corporate leaders have
retaliated with their deadliest weapon yet - the Donaldator; a largely
forgotten relic of the Reagan era they have revived in time for the
November elections. Donald's comeback has ushered in a new era of “Rogainomics”;
a snake oil stimulus package to stave off voter discontent with Bush's
job-hemorrhaging economy. After all, who better symbolizes the ecstatic
consumer confidence of the 1980s than the fat-fingered mogul who wears a
thorny crown of road kill on his own head? (full
article)

Kerry is a Sheep in Wolves' Clothingby Justin
Felux

John Kerry recently
allowed a group of reporters to follow him around on a shopping spree.
According to the LA TImes, the reporters were present as Kerry "bought a
jockstrap, among other items, at a local sporting goods shop." Apparently,
Kerry organized the publicity stunt in an attempt to prove to the country
that he actually has testicles. Sorry, Mr. Senator, but I'm still not
convinced. . . (full article)

Coming Soon to
Iraq: The Passion of the HandoverOccupation's bad news beat goes on as the Coalition Provisional
Authority hires top British PR firm to spin Year Twoby Bill
Berkowitz

If year one of
Operation Iraqi Freedom proved anything, it was that public relations
firms could have you believe that smoking a roasted banana peel could give
you a little buzz. During the run-up to war with Iraq, the administration
relied heavily on "perception management," Sheldon Rampton and John
Stauber wrote in their book
Weapons of Mass Deception: The Uses of Propaganda in Bush's War on Iraq
(Tarcher/Putnam, 2003). To that end, Team Bush rolled out a steady dose of
misinformation, disinformation, and highly dubious intelligence to sell
the war to the public. The selling of the war, however, was a breeze
compared to the selling of the occupation. Administration-sponsored
propaganda efforts, including the use of in-house hotshots and the hiring
of topnotch public relations firms and marketing gurus haven't yet been
able to stitch together a coherent or believable message. As the
occupation continues to unravel, so does the tapestry of the
administration's tall tales. . . (full
article)

Who Is Going to Stop Them?
by Naomi Klein

In London, they
unfurled a protest sign on Big Ben, in Rome a million demonstrators filled
the streets. But here in Iraq, there were no such spectacular markings of
the one year anniversary of the invasion a sign, the BBC speculated, that
Iraqis are generally “pleased” with the progress of their liberation. . .
(full article)

There Are No Words ...
Radiation in Iraq Equals 250,000 Nagasaki Bombs
by Bob Nichols

This story is
about American weapons built with Uranium components for the business end
of things. Just about all American bullets, 120 mm tank shells, missiles,
dumb bombs, smart bombs, 500 and 2,000 pound bombs, cruise missiles, and
anything else engineered to help our side in the war of us against them
has Uranium in it. Lots of Uranium. . . (full
article)

Memorial Wall Commemorates
Iraq Dead and Wounded by Dan Bacher

In an emotional and
heartfelt ceremony followed by the playing of taps, Veterans for Peace
unveiled a graphic, oversized "Iraq War Memorial Wall" next to the Vietnam
War Memorial at the California State Capitol on March 21. . . (full
article)

A
Malignant Tumor onto the World: Israel and Its Self-Defeating Actions
by
Manuel Valenzuela

What were Sharon and the
Israeli government thinking when they decided to decapitate Hamas through
the assassination of its founder, Sheik Ahmed Yassin? If the state
sponsored murder of Yassin was not so recklessly self-defeating one might
be inclined to think that Sharon is on a mission to implode the state of
Israel. The evaporation of a wheelchair-laden Yassin through American
Apache helicopter missiles underscores the vicious cycle the state of
Israel has thrust upon itself for years on end. Its ceaseless
terror-inducing actions on an occupied and resisting people continue to
haunt it and its own citizens; its continued oppression, violence and
dehumanization on the indigenous people of Palestine inevitably always
boomerangs back, yet Israel does not relent, nor understands, nor seems to
care about the consequences of its actions. . . (full
article)

Who Won World War II?
by Ran HaCohen

World War II plays a
major role in our conception of human history, because, unlike the
senseless carnage of World War I, it stands for an ideological struggle
between Good and Evil. Whereas the Allies – Britain, the USA and even the
Soviet Union – stressed, at least formally, their commitment to the
humanistic values of the Enlightenment, Hitler's Germany did away with
them altogether, worshipping barbarian values like power and race instead,
taking pride of its brazen contempt for morality, international
conventions and the rule of law....Luckily, Nazi Germany lost the War. But
almost sixty years after its defeat in the battlefield, Hitler's concept
of war – part and parcel of his overall Weltanschauung – celebrates
a rising tide in the global ideological arena. Israel's assassination of
Hamas' leader Sheik Ahmad Yassin is a milestone in this process of
barbarization of the human kind. . . (full
article)

Sons
of Malkoviches: Who Begat H.R. 3077?by Richard
Oxman

To question or not to question, is that,
unquestionably, the question, or what? A federal tribunal to investigate
and monitor criticism on American college campuses of...Israel? A bill was
passed by the House in support of creating such a tribunal? On
September 17, 2003 the House Subcommittee on Select Education approved
H.R. 3077 unanimously? Slightly over a month later, the
International Studies in Higher Education Act was passed by the full House
of Representatives? How did your representative vote? You don't
know? (full article)

Five
Theses on Shakespeare in the Alley/or
Bob Dylan and Anti-Imperialismby Jordy
Cummings

1. “I was thinking of a
series of dreams” I attended this weekend’s rainy but inspiring
antiwar march in Toronto - the “World still says no to war”…as diverse a
crowd as you could find, and surprisingly large considering the weather
and lack of publicity, compared to in other cities. What it lacked in
mass, it made up for as a veritable sea of humanity, in the city that the
UN referred to as the most multicultural on this small planet. . . (full
article)

Oh What A Lovely War --
One Year On by P. Anthony Farruggio

I
can recall the first moments of my country's attack on Iraq. . . (full
article)

March 25-26, 2004

The Media Politics of 9/11by Norman Solomon

For 30 months, 9/11 was
a huge political blessing for George W. Bush. This week, the media halo
fell off. Within the space of a few days, culminating with his testimony
to the Sept. 11 commission Wednesday afternoon, former counterterrorism
chief Richard Clarke did serious damage to a public-relations scam that
the White House has been running for two and a half years. . .
(full article)

US and Haiti: Imperial Arrogance at its Worstby Justin Felux

Maybe I should have known better, but I
almost couldn't believe my eyes when I read a recent piece in the Miami
Herald about Haiti. In describing the Bush administration's reaction
to Jamaica briefly hosting President Aristide and allowing him to reunite
with his daughters, the report said, "Jamaica's decision ... has
infuriated Bush administration officials ... Asked whether the United
States will take any concrete measures against Jamaica, U.S. officials say
the Bush Administration will not cut aid to fight AIDS in the region or
reduce other kinds of humanitarian assistance." How utterly gracious
of the Bush administration! You know a country has become too
powerful for its own good when it refrains from denying life-saving aid to
a tiny, helpless country and considers it an act of courtesy. . .
(full article)

Scary, Scary John Kerry by Josh Frank

Finally a reason to get
excited, as we now have before us an electable candidate worthy of taking
on George W. Bush and his coterie of neoconservatives next November. Well,
at least that’s what the scared liberals out there would have us believe.
But John Kerry is neither electable nor exciting. . . (full
article)

Crunch Time for Bush and
Opportunity for Kerry by Ahmed Bouzid

George W. Bush is in
trouble. He is in serious trouble. He is in the only kind of trouble that
he and his inner circle, headed by his close advisor, Karl Rove, really
care about: political trouble. . . (full
article)

In
his essay, Politics and the English Language, Orwell writes that
“political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder
respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” In no
case has this statement been truer than that of the Israeli- Palestinian
dispute. For over a half a century, an entire people have been denied not
only the right of self-determination, but the more basic right of human
recognition. . . Most impressive, though, has been the way in which the
“superstructure” of capitalist America has failed to notice the one year
anniversary of the killing of Rachel Corrie, or indeed notice that she was
killed to begin with. The good American patriots have had nothing to say
about the killing of “one of their own” by an unknown member of another
clan, forcing one to ask: is jingoism really gone for good? (full
article)

Quiet On No Frontby
Salik Farooqi

On
March 22, 2004, the Israeli government once again, crossed a line –
perhaps yet another point of no return - in its brutal occupation of
Palestine with its assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, leader and
founder of Hamas. The assassination brazenly violates international law.
No matter what one thinks of Sheikh Yassin's support of armed resistance
(in which he echoed the likes of George Washington, Simon Bolivar and
Nelson Mandela) to the Israeli occupation, what is indisputable is the
fact that contrary to Principle V of Nuremberg, Sheikh Yassin far from
receiving a fair trial, did not receive a trial. Sheikh Yassin's
assassination is therefore yet another blatantly unlawful act on the part
of an Israeli government that continues to ruthlessly oppress the
Palestinians. . . (full article)

Kerry vs. Kerry-lite
by Stephen Gowans

Some
advice to politically Left Americans. Most of you will cast a vote for
John Kerry in November. There's not much doubt about it. And the reason
you'll be backing Kerry is (a) you assume nothing could be worse than
Bush, (b) the Democrats must be marginally better, because…well, because
they're Democrats, (c) pressuring elites doesn't seem to be working and
you can't think of anything else to do to stop "Bush's" drive to war, and
(d) all those people who keep warning you about lesser evilism, can't seem
to come up with anything better. So Kerry's your man. Oh sure, some of you
admire Kucinich. Others even think well of Nader. But you know Kerry's
going to be your go-to-guy come November. Okay, fine. Leave it at that.
When the time comes, head down to the polling station, and cast your vote.
But in the meantime, shut up about it, because, just between you and me,
you're starting to look a little silly, twisting yourself into knots to
explain why it is that all the things you used to say about the Democrats
being the same as the Republicans, no longer apply. . . (full
article)

Somalia and Iraq: Looking Back and Aheadby Mickey Z.

The
preamble to the United Nations Charter begins, "We the people of the
United Nations determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge
of war...." Such idiom becomes useful when the United States intervenes
under the auspices of UN humanitarianism. As the endgame in Iraq grows
progressively more muddled and calls for UN involvement increase, it's
interesting to note that March 25, 2004 marks 10 years since the last U.S.
troops left Somalia. In 1992-93, Somalia experienced U.S./UN munificence
firsthand. Operation Restore Hope (sic) was sold to the public as an act
of U.S. philanthropy with images of malnourished African children and
stories of evil Somali warlords...but little of the nation's history was
allowed to get in the way. . . (full
article)

What’s to Blame for Lost Jobs? The Debate Over Job Loss and Outsourcingby Lee
Sustar

Is your
job going to Guangdong or Bangalore -- and is George W. Bush to blame?
While corporate outsourcing and offshoring of jobs has already become a
central question in the 2004 presidential elections, the debate has so far
only scratched the surface of the real reasons for the worst job growth
since the Great Depression of the 1930s. . . (full
article)

A
couple months back I came across a phenomenal statistic; there are 1.02 cars
in the U.S. for every person of driving age. The New York Times
confirmed this in an article last week that said there are 230 million cars
and trucks in the U.S. and only 193 million licensed drivers. Surely it’s more cost
effective to call a cab when a breakdown occurs rather than having a backup
vehicle? Or have the robots learned to drive? But in all seriousness, car
prevalence has, to put it mildly, many drawbacks. It also contributes
significantly to shaping a country and says something about a society. . .
(full
article)

“Out, Out Damned Spot!”
by Gary Corseri

Dana Gioia, talking
head of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), spoke at Harvard
University’s/Radcliffe’s Aggaziz Theatre on February 9th, outlining his
plans to bring Shakespeare performances to high schools, military bases,
and universities around the country. “I refuse to believe that arts
funding is controversial,” Mr. Gioia declared, “and I’m frankly bored with
talking about controversies of the previous century.” So, the Great
Helmsman has spoken. We must not bore him with talk about funding—who gets
what, how judgments are made, what agenda is served. That is SO last
century. Nor dare we breach etiquette by inquiring about cultural
relevance, the nature of the performance, suitability, message, etc. Is
bringing theater to the schools and bases going to make a difference?
Depends . . . Peter Brooks' Shakespeare with Puck jumping through fiery
hoops -- could be. Same-o, same-o--probably not. Shakespeare, of course,
is rather like the Bible: you can read almost anything into it. And we
know what W.S. himself had to say about that: “The devil can cite
Scripture for his purposes.” But let’s take Mr. Gioia at his word. Bring
Shakespeare the Revolutionary, not Shakespeare the Arch-Conservative, into
the classrooms and onto the bases. How might that sound? Well, maybe
something like the following, where all the dialogue is dripping wet from
the Bard’s own quill! (full scene)

March 23-24

Before These Crowded
Streetsby William Rivers Pitt

The chill of that place was
fresh in my bones on Sunday night when I turned on '60 Minutes' to see
Richard Clarke, former Director of Counter-Terrorism for the National
Security Council and veteran of every administration since Ronald Reagan,
denounce George W. Bush and his whole crew for their failure to deal with
terrorism before and after September 11, and for attacking Iraq when no
threat to our country was present there. . .
(full
article)

World’s Greatest Country:
Do the Facts Lie?by M. Shahid Alam

On March 21, 2003, as I
headed home, a day after the United States formally invaded Iraq, I ran
into a colleague from Northeastern University – a professor of the
humanities – at the Ruggles train station in Boston. I was aware of his
political inclinations, and he of mine, from previous encounters. Still, I
thought we were on friendly terms. “I bet you oppose the war,” he greeted me,
as I approached him. “Not at all,” I shot back, “ I wish to see Iraq
liberated as much as you.” Although, it was only the second day of the
war, and the bombs and missiles were accurately on target, it appeared
that the tension leading up to the war had taken their toll on our
colleague’s nerve. He snapped at my banter. Agitated, he began to poke his
finger in my face, while lecturing me about how “thankful” I should be
about living in “the world’s greatest country ever.” . . . (full
article)

Is Alan Greenspan
trying to get George W. Bush elected President this November? Accusations
of partisanship have dogged the Fed Chairman for some time -- especially
since he told Congress in January 2001 that, with continuing budget
surpluses, we might pay off the entire national debt too quickly.
Predictions of record budget surpluses have since been replaced by huge
deficits. Mr. Greenspan has lately been advising that the way to deal with
this colossal forecasting failure is not to reverse any tax cuts, but to
reduce spending. . .
(full article)

Sharon's
One Way Track by Ahmed Bouzid

The assassination of
Hamas founder and spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, should come as no
surprise to anyone who has followed Ariel Sharon's actions and has paid
minimum attention to how he operates. His logic is straightforward and
impeccable: Israel is an overwhelming military power; its strongest ally
is the mightiest military force in the world; therefore, as long as
Israel's conflict with the Palestinians remains within the military arena,
Israel will maintain a strong and steady upper hand. . .
(full
article)

Murder Plain and Simpleby Reuven Kaminer

The
real intent of the assassination of Sheikh Ahmad Yassin is identical with
Sharon's
disengagement ploy: to block any significant opportunity for the
resumption of efforts towards genuine negotiations. The fixed goal is the
targeted assassination of any chance for peace. . . (full
article)

Israelis Promulgate Extrajudicial Murder and the United States Looks On
by Sherri Muzher

As
an American of Palestinian descent and Christian faith, I never cared much
for the ultimate goal of Hamas: to establish a religious state in
Palestine. But I find myself angered and baffled at Israel's decision to
assassinate Hamas founder and spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. What
is even more baffling is the U.S. response, especially since its close
ally, Ariel Sharon, personally commanded this extrajudicial killing. . . (full
article)

The
Anti-War Movement in a Military Town by Lou Plummer

On the day after his
nineteenth birthday in 1966, my father received his commission as an
officer in the same North Carolina National Guard unit that took his
father to Europe in World War Two. By 1969, having left the Guard, Dad was
in Vietnam with the Fourth Infantry Division for the first of his two
tours there. After he returned, our family moved into officer’s quarters
at Ft. Bragg, conveniently located near our hometown, Fayetteville, NC. I
idolized my warrior father and told him that I wanted to be like him,
camping out, eating C-rations and killing Viet Cong, not an uncommon
feeling among seven-year-old military kids. . .
(full article)

A Charter to Interveneby George Monbiot

The survey the BBC
conducted in Iraq last week is shocking to those of us who opposed the
war. Most respondents say that life is now better than it was before the
invasion. Those who thought the US was wrong to attack are outnumbered by
those who thought it was right. Our instinct is either to ignore these
findings or to dismiss them. When the questioner is employed by the state
broadcaster of one of the occupying powers, the respondents might be
expected to answer warily. But this is not how the poll looks to me. When
asked "Do you support the presence of the coalition forces in Iraq?",
39.5% said yes, and 50.9% said no. Fewer than 10% said they had confidence
in the occupation forces; over 40% said they had confidence in Iraq's
religious leaders. These are not the answers you would expect from people
too frightened to speak freely. . . (full
article)

Taking Stock One Year
After the US Invasion of Iraqby Robert Higgs

One year ago the United
States unleashed its armed forces in an invasion of Iraq. Prior to the
invasion, the Bush administration offered a variety of justifications for
launching it and defended its war plan against critics who claimed that a
U.S. invasion was unnecessary and would be immoral or unwise. For everyone
except those blinded by partisan loyalty to the Bush administration, the
truth is now all too obvious. The administration was wrong and the critics
were right. . . (full article)

A
Bushless World is Possibleby
Benjamin Dangl

The demonstration on
March 20th in New York City spoke out against the Bush administration’s
foreign policy not just in Iraq, but in Haiti and Palestine as well. While
New York City mayor Bloomberg said there were over 33,000 protesters in
attendance, protest organizers said the number was closer to 100,000. In
either case the demonstration was largely peaceful with four arrests
reported from the New York City Police. Though I attended the march, I,
like many people I know had doubts about the message proposed by the
march’s coordinators, International ANSWER and United For Justice and
Peace, which was to “Bring the troops home now.” We didn’t think it was
practical to demand the immediate withdrawal of all troops from Iraq.
After the destruction of Iraq by the armed coalition forces, the immediate
withdrawal of these troops seems an impractical request and irresponsible
action which could fuel a civil war by allowing opposing ethnic and
religious groups to battle each other unchecked. To many of the
protesters who were out in full force last year, and continue to show
their support today, demanding the withdrawal of all troops immediately
seems too simplistic. . .
(full article)

One Man's Flip Is Another Man's Flopby Peter Kurth

Back
up, America! Rewind that film! Your columnist has some flip-flopping to do. You heard me – I’m a
flip-flopper. Despite all you’ve been told by the White House, the major
media, Ann Coulter and the Ouija board, it takes a big man to flip-flop and
I’m going to be the first one on the block to do it. I prefer the term
“flip-flop” to “waffle,” because “waffling” makes it sound like I haven’t
made up my mind, and I have. I’m flip-flopping absolutely. I’m turning 180
degrees. I’m going the whole nine yards, even though no one has yet figured
out what those nine yards refer to. You can look it up. What I’m flip-flopping
about is Mel Gibson. Yes, Mel Gibson, a man I wrote off two weeks ago in
this column as “a shameless and repulsive movie star.” He may still be a
shameless and repulsive movie star, but from now on he’s got my vote. Why?
Because Mel Gibson has “doubts” about George W. Bush. . .
(full
article)

It Takes a Nitwitby Sheila Samples

"Who
would prefer that Saddam's torture chambers still be open -- who would
wish that more mass graves were still being filled?"Can
we have a show of hands, here? You? You? Or, maybe You? While
lecturing a group of what he alleged to be representatives and
diplomats of "84 countries united against a common danger and joined in a
common purpose," George Bush last Friday followed up ghoulishly rhetorical
questions that could not be answered, with ridiculous rhetorical
assertions that could not be proved -- let alone understood. . . (full
article)

Senator John Kerry
has been defining himself as a Presidential candidate who would, if
elected, continue the Bush foreign policy in regard to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. If you listen to what he is currently
saying, you get a feeling that he wants voters (especially Jewish voters)
to believe that a Kerry presidency would be even more supportive of the
Sharon government, and actually less even-handed in its dealings with the
Palestinians than the current administration. This is his present position
despite some previous statements Kerry made fairly recently which indicate
that he may have supported a more open-minded US policy toward the region.
. . (full article)

Sharon's "Disengagement":
A Pacifier for the Majority by Tanya Reinhart

Getting
out of the Gaza Strip is an old dream of the majority in Israeli society.
Even before the Oslo agreements in 1993, the call to get out of there was
heard after every terror attack. Today, according to the polls, it has the
support of 60-70% of the Israelis. But governments come and fall, and
still, this majority has not found the political power to realize its
will. . . (full article)

Three years ago, while
California’s energy crisis was spiraling out of control, Vice President
Dick Cheney secretly met with half-dozen corporate executives of the
country’s largest energy companies to hammer out a national energy policy
for President George W. Bush. . . But Cheney's denials that his friends in
the energy sector weren’t to blame for the power crisis are sure to come
back and haunt him and could hamper President Bush’s reelection campaign.
. . (full article)

Unilateralism: The Christian Right's Influence and How to Counter It
by
Duane Oldfield

That
the administration of George W. Bush is pursuing a unilateralist foreign
policy on issues ranging from the Iraq War to global warming to the
International Criminal Court is obvious to observers at home and abroad.
Also clear is the fact that the Bush policy, at least in its broad
outlines, is very much in keeping with the preferences of the Christian
right. As the second two quotes above indicate, the president, himself a
born-again Christian, does not hesitate to use a moralistic, implicitly
religious language in defense of his policies. What, exactly, is the
relationship between the Christian right and the unilateralist foreign
policy of the present administration? (full
article)

Passion Against Anti-Semitismby Kim Petersen

The
latest Hollywood blockbuster by Mel Gibson, The Passion of Christ,
has aroused such passionate sentiment against it that I forced myself to do
something that I am loathe to do. Two inflammatory pieces in progressive
Canadian media -- “Mel’s
anti-Semitic Passion” by Jessica Squires in the Socialist Worker
and “A
Passion for Hatred That Mocks Christ’s Message”
by Robert Scheer in Canadian Dimension -- prompted me to fork out my
miserable worker wages to fatten Gibson’s already fat wallet so I could find
out for myself whether the film is anti-Semitic, as its detractors allege. .
.
(full article)

Sating the Monster by Barbara Sumner
Burstyn

Part of the year we live
in a small farming community in New Zealand, where each summer the locals
get together for a sports day. In a paddock backed by the impenetrable
Kaweka Ranges, kids gallop their horses round barrels and dog racing
consists of a dead possum tied to the back of Ute, driven at speed across
the paddock with farm dogs in hot pursuit. While the women slap home grown
BBQ sausages into white bread, men discuss the recent floods and our
neighbors decide it’s the perfect time to try to convert us. “I can’t wait
to see Mel Gibson’s, the Passion,” the home-schooling wife and mother says
two seconds after we’re introduced. Her husband, a born-again minister with
a flock in Napier nods quietly. I ask her why. “Because,” she lowers her
voice, “it’s the truth.” “Really?” I know my inflection is rising. “Oh yes,
it shows clearly who was responsible for Jesus’ death.” . . .(full article)

Many people read the
London based Independent newspaper because among its reporters is the
outstanding Robert Fisk. The anti-war stance of the newspaper on Iraq and
its stance on genetically manipulated foods and other environmental issues
may give the impression that the Independent is a responsible newspaper
across the board. But a look at its coverage of Venezuela reveals the same
old story of distortion, omission and deceit on US intervention in Latin
America that one finds everywhere else in the corporate media. . . (full
article)

Diary of New York City's
Diet Demonstration by Josh Frank

The cloudy New York sky
split and shined down on the 100,000 demonstrators who took their grievances
to the streets of Manhattan on Saturday March 20th. It was sort of a quasi
protest, as Mayor Bloomberg quarantined activists in fenced in areas which
were surrounded by police officers wearing soft gear, as opposed to the
Robocop armor sported during most large protests throughout the US.
Unfortunately thousands of people couldn’t even reach the scheduled event,
as the metal interlocking barricades along the sidewalks kept them out. The
day surely wasn't much fun for these folks. . . (full
article)

In SF, One Year of Occupying
Iraq Is Too Much, Protesters Sayby Seth Sandronsky

Thousands of people
rallied in San Francisco on a warm Saturday to oppose the U.S. assault on
Iraq that began one year ago. The protesters were part of a global day of
action against American military occupation of that Middle East nation. . .
(full article)

A Cell's Job: Noam Made 'Em
Do Itby Richard Oxman

As per
Professor Gasper's piece on Noam Chomsky's stance vis-a-vis John Kerry,
let me clue you in on what's taking place around the country that's not
going to conform to Chomsky's confines. It's dangerous stuff, and Noam
-- bless him -- is not helping this time around. Word has it that a hard
core group of citizens -- disenchanted with our March Madness -- have put on
their own Mad Hatter's hat. To wit, cells are forming around the
country (independent of one another) whereby groups of two, three and four
individuals will be taking action to stop The War Machine for good.
That's "good" in two senses. And blobs of MoveOn molasses will become
passé. Large groups will no longer be needed, if not mobilizing
meaningfully. Singular acts will be cool, spotlights will dim and
anonymity will rule. . .
(full article)

Duck-Hunting, the High
Court, Corruption and Slam Dunksby Tracy McLellan

Antonin
Scalia has announced he will not recuse himself from the Supreme Court case
in which it is to be determined whether or not Dick Cheney must make public
the notes of his secret energy task force that formulated Bush energy policy
in the spring and summer of 2001. Cheney’s task force met on scores of
occasions exclusively with executives from the fossil fuels and nuclear
industries, including Ken Lay several times, but with nary an advocate of
consumers, the environment, nor solar and alternative energies. Only weeks
after the Supreme Court agreed to take the case, which had been making its
way through the appellate courts, Cheney and Scalia chummed around on a
private duck-hunting trip in Louisiana. . .
(full article)

March 20-21

Just Another Stupid White
Manby Justin Felux

John Kerry says he wants to
be America's second "black president," but sadly, his record on issues of
racial justice makes him look more yellow than black. This could spell
trouble for the Democrats. . . (full article)

Which Way John Kerry?by John Stanton

John Kerry recently
chided the incoming Spanish government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero for
promising to fulfill a campaign promise to bring back to Spain its troops
and support personnel deployed in Iraq. Agence France Press reported that
Kerry’s view was that if Spain did bring its soldiers home at this point in
the US occupation, “it would leave behind a failed state that inevitably
would become a haven for terrorists.” With this statement, he seems to have
some Richard Nixon in him. On the John Kerry for President website, a
section outlines Kerry’s plan for “Winning the Peace in Post-Saddam Iraq”
which is eerily similar to phrasing used in Nixon’s Cambodia Incursion
Address delivered in 1970 to the American people. Nixon indicated that his
plans to expand the war while ostensibly bringing US troops home would
result in “winning the just peace we all desire”. Winning the Peace would
be a constant refrain of Nixon’s as would Peace with Honor. The longer the
US stays on Iraq the closer its leaders will come to uttering those phrases.
Why would John Kerry want to prolong the misery of US troops in Iraq and
their families here in the USA with such a strangely Nixonesqe policy?
(full article)

The Unmentionable Source
of Terrorismby John Pilger

The current threat of
attacks in countries whose governments have close alliances with
Washington is the latest stage in a long struggle against the empires of
the west, their rapacious crusades and domination. The motivation of those
who plant bombs in railway carriages derives directly from this truth.
What is different today is that the weak have learned how to attack the
strong, and the western crusaders' most recent colonial terrorism (as many
as 55,000 Iraqis killed) exposes "us" to retaliation. . . (full
article)

Iraq One Year Laterby Stephen Zunes

A full year after the
U.S. invasion of Iraq, while the tyrannical rule of Saddam Hussein is
over, the killing continues and the quality of life for most Iraqis has
actually deteriorated. Meanwhile, the United States is continuing to
sacrifice lives and money in an enterprise for which the original
rationales -- eliminating Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and its
support for the al Qaeda terrorist network -- are now widely acknowledged
to be false. This essay offers a brief overview of the situation on the
ground and the U.S. response to it. The violence in reaction to the U.S.
occupation has consisted of both urban guerrilla warfare against U.S. and
other occupation forces, led primarily by Baathist and other nationalist
militias, and terrorism against Iraqi and foreign civilians, presumably
led by domestic or foreign radical Islamists. There is also small-scale
and potentially large-scale nonviolent resistance, particularly in the
Shiite community. . . (full article)

The Global Anti-War
Movement and The Beastby Les Blough

The attacks of the American-led Corporate Global Empire on Afghanistan and
Iraq are clear violations of that sovereignty and amount to nothing less
than international war crimes. The anti-war movement should not, cannot
compromise our position: Get all U.S., British, Spanish troops and any
others participating in the invasion of Iraq - out of Iraq - unconditionally and now - not by midsummer
and not to be replaced with another occupying force, as
Zapatero seems to suggest. Any statement by the Anti-War movement
supporting U.N. occupation of Iraq as an alternative is not "anti-war" or
"anti-occupation" at all. . . (full article)

Mother of a US Soldier in
Iraq: "Wrong to Go to War, and Wrong to Stay"by Wayne Stanley

Family members of
soldiers now in Iraq have become a central pillar of the movement against
war and occupation. In the first such demonstration since the Vietnam War,
military families and veterans groups are mobilizing for a protest on
March 20 in Fayetteville, N.C., the home of Fort Bragg. Susan Schuman is a
member of Military Families
Speak Out. Her son, staff sergeant Justin Shuman, was deployed to Iraq
from Fort Bragg a year ago this month. He is currently stationed in
Samarra, north of Baghdad. Susan was interviewed by Socialist Worker’s
WAYNE STANLEY about the struggle to bring U.S. troops home now. . .
(full article)

Spinning the Past,
Threatening the Futureby Norman Solomon

Political aphorisms
don’t get any more cogent: “Who controls the past controls the future; who
controls the present controls the past.” George Orwell’s famous
observation goes a long way toward explaining why -- a full year after the
invasion of Iraq -- the media battles over prewar lies are so ferocious in
the United States. Top administration officials are going all out to
airbrush yesterday’s deceptions on behalf of today’s. And tomorrow’s. . .
(full article)

An
Egotist and a Spoilerby Carl Mayer

I must say that I have
been very impressed by the thoughtful tenor of Democratic Party commentary
upon Ralph Nader’s entry into the Presidential race. It is clear to me
that when Democrats like New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson says of Ralph
Nader that his run “is an act of total vanity and ego satisfaction” they
do so out of pure conviction, not because they have used polls and focus
groups to fashion an attack on an opponent. It is nice to see Democrats
like Richardson not only raise the caliber of debate, but continue the
tradition of calling Nader an egotist that Senator Harry Reid of Nevada
began in 2000. Why come up with new attack ideas when old ones will do? (full
article)

William Huang: The New
American Sambo by jimi izrael

William Huang, American
Idol reject, just got a $25,000 record deal with Koch records, but does he
realize we are laughing at him, not with him? Has anyone asked Huang if
he's in on the joke? (full article)

Emma Goldman for President
by Kurt Nimmo

I don't know if the
Diebold computer voting machines in my town will let me to write-in a
presidential candidate come November. But if it is possible I'm voting for
Emma Goldman. It will be a symbolic vote, of course. Emma died in 1940. .
.
(full article)

March 18-19

Zapatero!by John Chuckman

There are a few special
moments now and then in world affairs that lift your spirit... Now we have
the Spanish election and newly-elected Prime Minister Zapatero's words
about the Iraq invasion, words like "lies" and "stupid" that are inspiring
for their honesty and directness. Truth in world affairs is rare, and
Zapatero's comes after three solid years of numbing, depressingly-obvious
dishonesty from Bush. . .
(full article)

Spain Flips Off W.:
Rejection of the Politics of Lies Starts Abroad by Doug
Ireland

“Old
Europe” got its revenge. The Spanish elections eliminated George W. Bush’s
most important ally on the European continent, registered a resounding
rejection of the White House’s imperial foreign policy, and dramatically
shifted the balance of power within the European Union against the
Atlanticist alliance that sundered the authority of the United Nations by
invading Iraq. . . (full article)

Kicked Out For Exploiting a Tragedy: Bush’s Right-Wing Allies
in Spain Defeated after Madrid Bombing
by Lee Sustar

George
W. Bush exploited the tragedy of September 11 for crude political
gain--conquering Afghanistan and Iraq, rolling back civil liberties and
whipping up fear and hatred to advance the Republican agenda in
Washington. The horrific bombings on March 11 in the Spanish capital of
Madrid--which killed more than 200 people and wounded 1,200--seemed to
present one of Bush’s European sidekicks, Prime Minister José María Aznar,
with the same opportunity. Yet just three days after the attacks, Aznar’s
conservative Popular Party (PP) was driven from office in a stunning
electoral upset. Millions of Spanish voters who skipped the last election
turned out to show their fury at the government’s manipulation of
information about the March 11 attack to blame the Basque separatist group
ETA--when it knew that the available evidence pointed to al-Qaeda’s
involvement. . . (full article)

"The Things That
Make Men Men"
Leaked White House Transcript (10) by Lee Waters

It is difficult at the best
of times to fathom the hubris of the George W Bush administration. Back in
April of 2002 Bush and his cabal had engineered a coup in Venezuela and
the president Hugo Chávez was arrested. Elite figures quickly seized
power, moved to suspend the constitution and stack the courts and other
government bodies with corporate-friendly types. But after three days the
coup crumbled. Why? Because people took to the streets in support of their
president and the military fell in with the people. As reported by
Associated Press: “Never before in modern times has an elected
president been overthrown by military commanders, his successor
inaugurated, and then the ousted leader returned to power on the wings of
a popular uprising.” Now the Bush cabal has attempted a second shot at
deposing a Caribbean regime. The neoconservatives even went so far as to
claim that Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide had resigned and left
the country overnight -- identical to the pronouncements made when Chávez
was temporarily ousted. Have they learned anything? (full
article)

Condi Rice, In a Sense, Makes a Fool of Herselfby
Justin Felux

When asked about the
overthrow of Haiti's Aristide government in a television interview,
Condoleezza Rice lent credibility to Hugo Chavez's claim that she is an
illiterate by saying, "We believe that President Aristide, in a sense,
forfeited his ability to lead his people, because he did not govern
democratically." She later said, "Haiti is moving forward. There's a new
president. There is a new prime minister. There is a new chief of
police. There's an Eminent Persons Council that is trying to guide that
process." So let me get this straight: becoming president by winning an
overwhelming majority of the vote in free and fair elections is not
democratic, but being arbitrarily appointed by a council of "eminent
persons" is?
(full article)

Redemptionby Nick Pretzlik

Thirty-seven
years after Israel’s military might rolled into the West Bank and Gaza the
occupation of these Palestinian territories continues. Thirty-seven years
of death and destruction, thirty-seven years of illegal settlement
building, thirty-seven years of brutality and Palestinian dispossession
and still the world averts its eyes. It is the longest occupation of one
country by another in modern times; an occupation, which has involved
Israel in dozens of violations of UN Security Council and General Assembly
Resolutions. And still many casual observers assume the conflict is
symmetrical. They adopt pious neutrality rather than mount a serious
attempt to understand what is happening. Neutrality and lack of engagement
on the Palestinian/Israeli issue are luxuries we cannot afford. It is not
acceptable for Western societies to remain aloof while Palestinians are
ethnically cleansed from their land and social genocide is implemented.
With all the information in the public domain, it is surprising such
attitudes persist ­ particularly with the conflict central to the Global
War on Terror. No other issue so enrages the Islamic world. Today that
anger affects us all. . . (full article)

Dreams For Saleby Mickey Z.

The latest issue of
Satya Magazine takes
a look at violence and activism. This includes a provocative interview
with a hardnosed founding member of Greenpeace, Captain Paul Watson. When
asked for tactical and motivational advice for new activists, Watson
offered his version of a realty check for the next generation: "All people
are the same. The poor are simply wannabe rich people. The oppressed are
wannabe oppressors." As difficult as it might be to accept, there is some
truth in Watson's appraisal. Talk to any non-rich lottery player if you
don't believe me. In my neighborhood, playing the lottery is not just
state-sponsored gambling...it's a lifestyle choice. Coercive advertising
is used to convince the poor and middle class to accept a cleverly
disguised, voluntary tax by promising them a chance to be rich like all
their media-created heroes. It's an awesome victory of propaganda that so
many downtrodden Americans strive to be exactly like the man whose boot is
stomping on their necks. . . (full article)

Bombing the Peace
Protestors: People Pay the Price for Realpolitik by David Edwards and Media Lens

Before last year’s war on Iraq, Media Lens
reported the extraordinary level of establishment opposition to the
attack. Writing in the Financial Times in January 2003, Douglas Hurd,
former Conservative Foreign Secretary, argued that the war ran "the risk
of turning the Middle East into an inexhaustible recruiting ground for
anti-western terrorism". Anatol Lieven, a Senior Associate of the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace, wrote that the Bush administration was
pursuing "the classic modern strategy of an endangered right-wing
oligarchy, which is to divert mass discontent into nationalism," inspired
by fear of lethal threats. America, Lieven warned, "has become a menace to
itself and to mankind". In similar vein, Ami Ayalon, the head of Israel's
General Security Service (Shabak) from 1996 to 2000, suggested that "those
who want victory" against terror without addressing underlying grievances
"want an unending war". No surprise, then, that as the US-UK “coalition”
finalized its plans for war in early 2003, a UN report indicated that al-Qaeda
recruitment had accelerated in 30 to 40 countries...
(full article)

Dodging Bullets in Iraq by Bilal
El-Amine

The June 30 deadline
for "transfer of power" has been widely peddled as the end of the
occupation. But like with much else that comes out of Washington these
days, this is sheer deception. The US intends to be in Iraq for years to
come, and the caucus scheme was designed to legitimize the Pentagon's
hijacking of the country... (full article)

The Peace Movement One
Year Later by Mark Engler

One year after the
start of war in Iraq, the peace movement in the United States faces an
unusual predicament. Critics of the invasion had many of their key
arguments vindicated in the past year, as President Bush's case for war
has collapsed. Likewise, activists can take substantial credit for
emboldening Democratic criticisms of the Bush administration and for
keeping war-related scandals in the spotlight. Yet even as we sense that
greater space for progressive activism in the country is opening, it has
been hard to maintain a sense of unity and purpose within the peace
movement itself. . . (full article)

Rachel Corrie, A Year Laterby Gila Svirsky

I
was not present in Rafah that terrible day, but I have frequently replayed
in my mind the events leading up to the moment when a bulldozer rolled
over Rachel Corrie. I think to myself: What compelled this young woman,
neither Jewish nor Palestinian, to travel 10,000 miles from home, to throw
in her lot with a family not her own, a people not her own, and ultimately
meet a death that came suddenly, swiftly, in an instant of shocked
comprehension? (full
article)

Nader and His Two Black
Marks Amidst America's Acneby Richard Oxman

On October 10, 2002, my daughter Noelle's
birthday, I caught Ralph Nader on the campus of the University of Utah.
I was passing through the so-called Great Salt Lake area, and serendipity
favored me. . . There were only two points in Ralph's presentation at
Kingsbury Hall that night which bothered me. . . (full
article)

March 16-17

To Support or Not to
Support: The Nader Question by Josh Frank

Things may be shaping
up nicely for Ralph Nader, who could very soon receive an unlikely
endorsement from the Ross Perot founded Texas Reform Party. This may prove
to be a huge victory for Nader’s solo candidacy, as the support from the
conservative Reformers could help him gain ballot access for the upcoming
November election. . . (full article)

Liars Lose: The Lessons of Regime Change
in Spain by Jeff Cohen

Political shock in
Spain!" blared ABC News on Sunday night, as regime change came to Madrid.
Along with Tony Blair, Spain's conservative Prime Minister Jose Maria
Aznar had been the staunchest of Bush allies. One down, two to go. . .
(full article)

Mayhem in Madridby Ivan Eland

It appears that the
Spanish people can thank the Bush administration for the horrendous
bombing of four commuter trains in Madrid that killed 200 people and
injured 1,500. Although the New York Times editorialized that the attacks
were a “reminder that terrorism is a worldwide threat and that fighting it
is not America’s problem alone,” Spain was not attacked randomly. It was
apparently attacked for being one of the few nations in the world to
support the unnecessary U.S. invasion of Iraq. . . (full
article)

The Spanish Election Was a
Repudiation of America's "War on Terror"by Hanin
Othman

The elections in Spain
on Sunday were not merely overshadowed by the terror attacks last
Thursday, they were actually turned around by them. In only four days a
rather sure victory of the ruling PP (People's Party) gave way to an
absolute majority of PSOE (Socialist Party). . . (full
article)

The Passion for Religion
Ebbs In New York and in the United States by Andrew Beveridge

As the Passion of the
Christ continues to break box office records, Christians observe lent,
Jews prepare for Passover, more and more politicians from Bush to
Lieberman voice their religious conviction from the stump, while the
attorney general holds morning prayer meetings in his office, one might
get the impression that people in New York and the U.S. are becoming more
and more religious. Yet, data from the
2001 American Religious Identification Survey shows that U.S. adults
with no religious identification almost doubled from 1990 to 2001. . .
(full article)

Low Hanging Fruit: The Superstores are
Mopping Up the
Last Pockets of Resistanceby George Monbiot

Every year the list is
the same, but every year it still comes as a shock. Of the ten richest
people on earth, five have the same surname. It's not Gates, or Murdoch,
or Rockefeller, but Walton. They are the heirs and trustees of the
supermarket chain Wal-Mart. Between them they are worth $100bn.
Considering how the press fawns on the ultra-rich, we hear remarkably
little about them. Perhaps this is because their position is rather
embarrassing. The company which enriches them trades on the idea that it
is the friend of the common man and woman, distributing rather than
concentrating wealth. . . (full article)

An interview with
General Raul Baduel commander of the Venezuelan army by Heinz Dieterich: The
barbaric violation of basic legal norms revealed by British detainees
lately released from Guantanamo is emblematic of US foreign policy root
and branch. Open or covert illegal aggression has always been a principal
tool of US foreign policy. The energy needs of the US and its allies will
dictate the next likely savage intervention: Venezuela. Venezuela is an
obstacle to the full implementation of US plans for the region. Those
plans require control of extraction and transport of Latin America's
energy resources and on destroying the region's food sovereignty. Plan
Colombia, Plan Puebla Panama and the “free trade” corporate welfare scams
the US seeks to impose on the region are the main policy instruments to
achieve those goals. Multinational European corporations are willing
collaborators. . . (full article)

Anti-Palestinian
'Spin' in the American media has a multitude of flavors. It works to
interpret the Israel-Palestinian conflict for its readers by encapsulating
'news' within conveniently simplistic explanations. What is all the
fighting about? It's not about a political conflict over land
expropriation, much of the American media would insist: it's just that
those Palestinians are a naturally violent people. Why have some
Palestinians resorted to suicide bombings? In large sections of the
American media, the properly political answers to such questions are
rejected in favor of farcical racial and religious caricatures:
Palestinians don't value life; Palestinians are driven by an all-consuming
hatred; Palestinians are brainwashed religious fanatics and anti-Semites;
etc. . . (full article)

Salvation Army Discriminates: One of
Nation's Largest Charities Sued
by Employees for Religious Discrimination by Bill Berkowitz

All is not well with
one of the nation's largest charities. Eighteen current and former
employees of the Salvation Army's social services arm have filed suit
against the organization, accusing it of "imposing a religious veil over
secular, publicly financed activities like caring for foster children and
counseling young people with AIDS," the New York Times reported in late
February. "I was harassed to the point where eventually I resigned," said
Margaret Geissman, a former human resources manager who told the Times
that her superior asked for the religions and sexual orientations of her
staff. "As a Christian, I deeply resent the use of discriminatory
employment practices in the name of Christianity." . . . (full
article)

Peter Gabriel: Car
Salesmanby Tracy McLellan

What a disappointment
to hear Peter Gabriel's song "Big Time" attached to Lincoln-Mercury car
commercials. Has he sold out? Is he responsible? Or does some other
entity own the music and sold it to Ford and Madison Avenue? I always
thought the lyrics to that song were a satirical stab at the consuming
lust for the so-called success of "Big Time." Now I'm to believe hitting
the Big Time means what it’s always meant - being a successful consumer?
Anybody know any of the particulars in this disappointing turn of events?
Is there nothing sacrosanct from the rapacious clutches of the
corporation? (full article)

Surges in Energy Prices
by Ralph Nader

If there was ever a sign
as to how consumers have been abandoned, check out the recent surges in
the prices of gasoline, heating oil, and natural gas. They are more than
comparable to the energy price hikes in the Seventies which caused an
uproar in the country, prompted Congressional investigations, Justice
Department lawsuits demanding refunds, even calls for breaking up the oil
giants under the antitrust laws and starting a federal petroleum company.
. . (full article)

Gasoline Prices: A Case of Cheating, Not
CompetingSound Familiar? Think Back to the
Electricity Crisisby Jamie Court and Tim Hamilton

If the recent sticker
shock at the gasoline pump feels familiar, that's because it is the same
old story that led California's electricity market to become the
embarrassment of the nation. California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer is
convening today in Los Angeles a panel of industry experts who have blamed
the run-up on OPEC crude oil prices, environmentally sensitive fuel and
free-market pressures. But the problem is as simple as California's
electricity crisis turned out to be: A few giant energy corporations have
manipulated supply to keep profits high. . . (full
article)

A poem on the one year anniversary of the
murder of Rachel Corrie by the Israeli Defense Forces. . . (full
poem)

March 15

The A Word by Barbara Sumner Burstyn

I'm told the fastest way
to ruin a columnist's career is to write about abortion. Just the mention of
it brings out the letter writers and an entire column on the subject can
overwhelm the editor's desk with furious mail. So be it. Last November the
United States signed into law a rule banning a procedure known by supporters
as partial birth abortion. Coined by the National Right to Life Committee,
the term is as spurious as it is emotive. Despite this, it's been adopted by
an unquestioning mainstream media and has led to an uninformed public
somehow believing that by supporting the legislation they are saving
thousands of babies, on the verge of viable birth, from being killed. . . (full
article)

Melissa Ann Rowland,
28, of Salt Lake City was pregnant with twins. Her doctors claim they
warned her about complications requiring a Caesarean section. Without the
procedure, they believed the unborn twins might not survive. According to
a nurse, Rowland refused the C-section because she didn't want scars.
Rowland's attorney, Michael Sikora, says his client has a long history of
mental illness. He called a C-section major surgery and explained, "It
would come as no surprise that a woman with major mental illness would
fear it." Only one of the twins survived childbirth. Rowland was arrested
and charged with one first-degree felony count of criminal homicide:
"depraved indifference to human life." If convicted, she faces between
five years and life in prison. . . Unexamined in the press reports is the
efficacy of the C-section and the state of women's health care in America.
. .
(full article)

Under Bush, Labor Surplus
Growsby Seth Sandronsky

President Bush is
presiding over a growing surplus of U.S. workers who are unable to find
paid work. . . (full article)

Sofia's Critics Lose it in
Translationby Leilla Matsui

Film Review: Even before Sofia Coppola's
Oscar winning “Lost in Translation” opens in Tokyo where it was shot on
location, a mini-controversy has erupted here over the film's alleged
racism; a charge that at least one local observer has already leveled
against the filmmaker in an editorial on the Japan Today website. The now
widely circulated article has generated mudslinging between the film's
defenders and its outraged critics who condemn it for its apparent
portrayal of Japanese people as little more than buffoonish backdrops in
yet another unwelcome Hollywood incursion onto these shores. It should be
noted, though, that very few on either side of this particular internet
debate have actually seen the film as it isn't due for release here until
the end of April. . . (full article)

What
Are We Trying To Achieve?by Zbignew Zingh

Progressives and leftists
and liberals and environmentalists and populists and socialists all around
the world can thank George W. Bush. We were all asleep and now we are awake.
We were scattered and now we have connected. We were divided, but he, the
Great Uniter, has started to unite us. But is it all just a surface
phenomena? Is there substance to the movement that Mr. Bush has
re-energized? Does it have stamina? Will we stay connected and united? (full
article)

Following WWI, real
life -- grotesque and full of disillusionment -- demanded something of its
theatrical fare that was very different from what had been on the boards
forever, from Shakespeare and Moliere through Ibsen. However, George
Bernard Shaw -- immediately after the war -- did not go so far as to
disintegrate long-standing theatrical traditions, his art's inherited
techniques, in order to make the necessary adjustments. Rather,
resisting the notion in vogue among playwrights at the time, which asserted
that the meaningless fragmentation of democratic society was the destined
end for one and all (greatly affecting dramatic form), he clung to hope and
belief, retaining a very strong dramatic structure in the process. I'm
afraid the world's not a very sweet stage these days, and some of "the
mystifications of the past" must be done away with, even if it means
structure weakening as hope or faith wavers. . . (full
article)

Most gay marriage supporters
rightly argue such an amendment ought to be soundly defeated, since it
curtails rather than expands individual rights, something the US
Constitution has never before done (fractions of black slaves
notwithstanding). Not really a good legal argument. A more fruitful
strategy would be to argue the proposed amendment is prima facie
unconstitutional; not because it writes blatant discrimination into the
law, but because it violates the constitutionally recognized separation of
church and state. The Christian right’s disguising this issue as a
moral and social one conveniently obscures its patently religious roots. .
. (full article)

March 14

Debunking the Media's Lies about President Aristideby Justin Felux

If you believe the
stories of the corporate media and the Bush administration, you would think
Aristide is getting what he deserves. He is a "corrupt dictator" who abuses
human rights. He is a "psychopath" who advocated "necklacing" his opponents.
He didn't do anything to bring Haiti out of poverty; in fact, he made Haiti
more poor than ever. All of these statements are distortions or outright
lies. Aristide's true crime was the same crime committed by L'Ouverture 200
years ago: he stood up to the powers that be. He empowered the Haitian
people and belied the racist caricature of Haiti as a land of savage,
voodoo-practicing black people who aren't fit to govern themselves; the view
expressed by William Jennings Bryan when he said "Think of it, niggers
speaking French," or by Pat Buchanan when he disgracefully referred to
Haitian refugees as "the Zulus off Miami Beach." Aristide showed those who
painted the Haitian people as ungovernable savages needed to take a look in
the mirror before they presumed to control the affairs of Haiti, and for
that, he had to be deposed. . . (full article)

Terrorism's
Future
by Rahul Mahajan

Whether Thursday's
attacks in Spain, in which 190 people were killed and nearly 1500 wounded,
were carried out by the Basque separatist ETA or by al-Qaeda, they make one
thing very clear: terrorism cannot be fought by military means. . .
(full article)

“Let’s Put on a Show!”
Spectacle Versus Reality in the US Peace Movement by Pattrice Jones

Yet again tens of
thousands prepare to descend on major metropolitan areas to march in circles
through empty streets. We will exercise our legs and our lungs and our egos
and then go home again. Nothing will change and nobody will be surprised at
that. As usual, exorbitant expenditures of time and money will add up to
exactly zero. Meanwhile, people and animals and ecosystems in Iraq and
elsewhere will continue to pay the price for our failures of courage and
imagination. The French have a word for it: spectacle. Back in the 1960s,
Guy Debord and other Situationist theorists and activists described late
capitalist culture as “the society of the spectacle.” Long before the advent
of reality shows and ring tones for disposable cell phones, Situationists
were already chafing at the degree to which the lively variety of everyday
life had been reduced to a deadening array of things to watch and buy. . . (full
article)

Demographic Warsby Neve Gordon

On
the southern tip of the West Bank, situated on the slope of a mountain,
there is a small village of Palestinian cave-dwellers. Its name is Jinba,
and it is home to roughly three hundred inhabitants. A visitor might see the
sheep grazing on a nearby hill and a tractor plowing the fields. An idyllic
scene, especially following the rainy season, when the desert has turned
green. But here too, the ostensible tranquility is little more than an
illusion. Not unlike other cave-dweller villages in the Mount Hebron region,
life in Jinba has become unbearable, and the small rural community is now on
the verge of being annihilated. . . (full
article)

Driven to Tears: Getting
Stung by Terrorby Mickey Z.

Today, I actually found
myself in the rare position of being thankful for riding the NYC subway at
6:00 a.m. A terror attack would be more likely during rush hour, I posited.
When I got to work at the gym that employs me, "Driven to Tears" by The
Police was playing on the stereo. The above line, on this day after the
Madrid bombings, struck a chord. I'm no big fan of Sting or his safe, trendy
political stances...but he did write some provocative lyrics back in the
day. . . (full article)

Why John Kerry Doesn’t
Deserve Your Supportby Alan Maass

The results
of the 2004 presidential election are in--eight months before November 2.
The winner supported the U.S. war on Iraq and favors a continued occupation.
He backed the USA PATRIOT Act. He favors more tax breaks for the rich, such
as a cut in the capital gains tax. He supported No Child Left Behind Act and
wants to expand education "reform" to promote "school choice." "To be sure,"
as Progressive Review
editor Sam Smith puts it, "there will be a consolation runoff in which we
get to decide who we would rather do battle against for the next four
years." But John Kerry’s emergence last week as the Democrats’ certain
presidential nominee--barring a freak accident or scandal--guarantees that
the White House will be occupied by a loyal member of the ruling political
establishment who agrees on most of what has happened in Washington under
George W. Bush..
(full article)

Lombrum Detention Center
in Papua New Guinea, 2004: Predestined to refugee status by the political
circumstances of his birth in Kuwait to a Palestinian father and an Egyptian
mother, 25 year old Aladdin Sisalem now sits in solitary confinement on an
island that costs the Australian government almost as much in bad public
relations as it does in money. . . (full
article)

Justice on the Rangeby Russell
Mokhiber and Robert Weissman

The cowboy and rancher
once stood as symbols of American individualism. Those days are long gone.
Today, most U.S. cattlemen and women operate at the mercy of huge
meatpacking conglomerates. Small meatpackers are, for the most part, a thing
of the past, acquired or driven out of business by a handful of giant
corporations. . . (full article)

Natural Selection by Adam Engel

An excerpt from Adam's
new book Topiary. Corporate drone wakes up one day and decides to go
fishing at the pond he fished during his youth. He skips work and goes
there. Finds two old men fishing and starts a conversation with them. One of
them is retarded. The articulate one explains that they can fish there, but
they dare not eat the fish they caught, for the entire area is contaminated
by toxic waste dumped by the nearby hospital. Which is why the pond still
exists and hasn't been turned into a Condominium complex. The man, who is
Not-Yet-Accused will go on to poison his family with the fish and stand
trial. He feels that struggling with the fish he caught was the only real
work he'd done in his life. . . (full article)

March 11

Breaking the Chains of Illusions -- Part
Two
The Catastrophe Of Corporate Workby David
Edwards and Media Lens

My early sense that
people had a tendency to trade their authenticity for a socially approved,
false version of happiness was reinforced mightily when I entered the
world of business. . . My experience of business was of stress and
futility, but above all of boredom: the hamster-wheel commute to work, the
suit-uniform I had to wear ­ with a colourful tie as a fig leaf of
"individualism" -- the mindless, repetitive tasks empty of interest; it
was all unimaginably boring. . . (full
article)

George W. Bush won't need
Social Security for retirement. He's a millionaire many times over.
Taxpayers will pad Bush's retirement with a large presidential pension.
Former presidents receive $175,700 this year plus office, travel, medical
and other benefits. Social Security isn't broke, but millions of retirees
who depend on it are, and many more would be broke without it. . . (full
article)

CIA Chief Plays Dumb on
Neo-Con Intelligenceby Jim Lobe

Was Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA) director George Tenet really the last person in Washington to
find out that both the president and vice president were being fed phony or
"sexed up" intelligence about prewar Iraq by a Pentagon office staffed by
ideologically driven neo-conservatives? (full
article)

Of the Evil Empire,
Imperialist Devastation of Peoples and
the Evils Done in Our Nameby Manuel Valenzuela

Let us for a few moments
put aside our lavish lifestyles of fortuitous endowment and providence that
have made us blind to the realities of billions of our fellow humans. Let
us ignore our plasma televisions, our DVDs, our two-story cookie cutter
homes and gas-guzzling SUVs. Let us promise to not open our overstocked
pantries and refrigerators, or to go out and eat at one of many corporate
controlled franchise restaurants offering vast assortments of gargantuan
meals. We should ignore the opulence of our society that dwells permanently
in our minds that makes us forget the severe indigence and suffering that
transpires beyond our shores and borders. In short, we should come out of
our luxurious bubble that has shielded us from the evils inflicted on
billions of humans that have not been as privy to a life of safety and
security. Let us traverse the road of reality, sojourning through history
and through mirages of hidden truths. Let us dive into the making of the
Evil Empire so that we may see what our government has and continues to do
in our name. The road ahead will not be easy to swallow or comprehend, yet
we must open our minds to the possibility that what has happened is real and
what is occurring is not fiction. Only then will we understand why our
hands are smeared in the blood of tens of millions of human cadavers and
countless more whose lives and futures have been devastated at the hands of
the United States of America. Only by knowing who and what we are can we
correct ourselves. . . (full article)

Venezuela at the Crossroads: National
Endowment for Democracy Channels Money to Recall Campaign Against
Democratically Elected President by Bill Berkowitz

While news about U.S.
participation in what many observers believe to be the forced removal of
Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide continues to unfold, the situation
in Venezuela is once again reaching a tipping point. Over at David
Horowitz's right wing FrontPage Web site, columnist and radio talk show host
Lowell Ponte, overjoyed by Aristide's removal, hysterically called Venezuela
President Hugo Chavez the "third domino in the axis of red evil." In an
op-ed piece for the Houston Chronicle, Douglas MacKinnon, former press
secretary to former Sen. Bob Dole, and a former White House and Pentagon
official, called Chavez a "madman" and "an evil just as unpalatable, just as
real and potentially just as lethal as Osama bin Laden." With the U.S.'s oil
supply threatened, is the Bush Administration organizing "regime change" in
Venezuela? (full article)

Haiti: No News is Bad Newsby David Edwards and Media Lens

The beauty of news for a society like ours
is that it doesn’t have to make sense. If we were introducing students to
modern physics, we would feel obliged to explain Newton’s Laws and
Einstein’s famous theorem, E=mc2; we would naturally point to issues
raised by quantum mechanics. There would obviously be no prospect of
students understanding, much less tackling, the latest problems in modern
physics without first achieving this basic understanding. But when our
media broadcast news on, say, the crisis in Haiti they fail, as it were,
even to mention that Newton ever existed, or that Newtonian mechanics
provide a pretty good description of the everyday world. Their attempts at
explanation are limited to reporting, in effect: "Some physicists are
flying to a meeting in Switzerland," while "others will be writing papers
about what was discussed there." . . . (full
article)

Behind Aristide’s Fall: What Led to the
US-Engineered Coup? by Helen Scott and Ashley Smith

Helen Scott and Ashley Smith look at how
Jean-Bertrand Aristide arose as a leader of the mass movement against
dictatorship in Haiti--and why his compromises with U.S. imperialism set
the stage for his overthrow. . .
(full
article)

Are the Taliban Really
“Gone”?by Mark Sedra

America's got the
watches, but the Taliban has the time” (BBC, January 16, 2004). This
telling statement, attributed to a Taliban spokesperson in early 2004,
illustrates a fundamental truth about the present situation in
Afghanistan: The longer it takes to consolidate the peace and deliver a
peace dividend to the beleaguered population, the greater the likelihood
that antigovernment spoiler groups, whether they are the Taliban,
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's Hizb-i-Islami, or al Qaeda, will be able to unravel
the nascent state-building process. The Taliban are acutely aware that
sustained donor interest and military support will not last forever; donor
fatigue, shifting budgetary priorities, and waning donor attention are
inevitable. With the world's eyes firmly fixed on Baghdad--not
Kabul--maintaining high levels of donor support for Afghanistan is an
arduous task. An historic window of opportunity exists to stabilize and
reconstruct this war-torn country, but with each passing day that window
closes ever more slightly. Once that window is closed, there is no
guarantee that a similar opportunity will arise again, for the Taliban and
other fundamentalist groups will be waiting to take advantage. . .
(full article)

Pillar Fight: The "New"
U.N. Blames the Poor
by Mickey Z.

"Make no
mistake," declared Paul Martin, Canada's prime minister and co-chairman of
the U.N. Commission on Private Sector and Development. "This is a new pillar
of development - unleashing local private enterprise, supported by strong,
indigenous, democratic institutions." With at least a billion people on the
planet subsisting on the equivalent of one US dollar a day or less, a March
8 report issued by the U.N. commission explained that its "new pillars"
includes "access to bank loans, encouraging job skills and training, and
setting up simpler, fairer rules and regulations can all help small-scale
business flourish." . . . (full article)

Never a day goes by without a flood of
commentaries on Sharon's disengagement plans. Sharon insists on a major pull
out from the Gaza area, the removal of some 7,500 Jewish settlers, with most
of their settlements. Sharon talks about also dismantling several
settlements in the West Bank and gives everyone to understand that all this
is going to be coordinated with the U.S. administration, down to the last
detail. The new arrangements in the Gaza region, the timing of the
withdrawal, and some sort of financial assistance from the U.S. government
are already the subject of intensive negotiations between the Israeli and
U.S. governments. Naturally enough, the super hawks in his coalition and in
his own party are fuming with indignation over the fact that the boss
himself is going to grant, heaven forbid, a colossal "prize to terror." But
there is nothing mysterious about Sharon's intentions. . . (full
article)

Sport as Warby Kim Petersen

Ice hockey captures both
the sublimity of sports and the absurdity as elucidated by the oft-told
joke: “I went to the fights last night and a hockey game broke out.”
Hockey-as-a-sport’s reputation is once again tarnished following a brutal
retaliatory attack in a game between two top teams: Vancouver Canucks and
Colorado Avalanche. . . (full article)

"God" is Starting to Scare
Me!by Jack Ballinger

I've just read The
Rise of the Religious Right in the Republican Party, a public
information project from
TheocracyWatch.org.Adding
the info in that report to what one finds in the mainstream media every
day and you begin to realize how scary the new "American God" can be. . .
(full article)

March 9

Tweedle Democrat
Progressive Internationalists by Kurt Nimmo

Come November, America
will have two unpalatable choices: either Tweedle Bush or Tweedle Kerry.
Given such, nothing of substance will change. Oh, those of us who cringe
at the sight of neocons may be momentarily relieved to see the "creative
destructionists" pack their bags and leave the Pentagon, the State
Department, and the White House, head out for their radical right-wing
foundations and conspiracy tanks, but it will be, all told, little more
than a shuffling of deck chairs and a change of stationary. . . (full
article)

Replying to the
American Embassyby Barbara Sumner Burstyn

On February 9, Dissident Voice
published "On
Not Being Anti-American," by Barbara Sumner Burstyn, which was
originally published in the New Zealand Herald newspaper. Burstyn's
weekly column for the Herald is also a regular feature on DV. The following is
an exchange between Burstyn and William Millman, Public Affairs Officer at
the US Embassy in Wellington. Mr. Millman's letter to Burstyn contains a
passing shot at DV, which Burstyn recommended to her readers as a worthwhile
American website to
consult in her article. DV editor Sunil Sharma will post a lengthy reply to
Mr. Millman's next week. First is Millman's letter, followed by Burstyn's
response. . . (full exchange)

Sanctioning Syria in the War on
Terrorism:
Neocons’ Iraq Strategy Now Focused on Syriaby Tom Barry

Even before the U.S.
occupation forces settled into Saddam Hussein's palaces in Baghdad, the
neoconservatives who have set the direction of the Bush presidency's
radical foreign and military policies were looking toward Syria. Before
the month is out, it's likely that President Bush will announce new
sanctions against Syria--accusing the northern neighbor of Israel,
Lebanon, and Iraq of many of the same offenses that were leveled against
the Hussein regime in Iraq. The charge list includes developing biological
and chemical weapons of mass destruction, condemning the U.S. occupation
of Iraq, supporting international terrorism, and succoring anti-U.S. and
anti-Israel guerrilla forces. . . (full
article)

Kee-reist is More Like Itby Peter Kurth

Just imagine my surprise
on Friday afternoon when, after a long day stringing words and sentences
together in my new “manufacturing” job, I opened my email and saw the
following “breaking news alert” from Yahoo.com: “Attorney General John
Ashcroft in ICU.”My heart skipped a beat. “A car wreck?” I
wondered. “A pulmonary embolism? Or did somebody knock him senseless with
a Bible?”
(full article)

The Ultimate Oligarch: Greenspan's Spin
on Social Security and Medicareby Ralph Nader

Federal Reserve Chairman
Alan Greenspan strayed away from his charter once again to warn about the
people's entitlement programs -- Social Security and Medicare -- becoming
unaffordable. He suggested cuts in benefits to reduce deficits. In the same
breath, Mr. Greenspan urged that Mr. Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy -- a
huge cause of the growing federal deficits -- be made permanent. His
priorities should come as no surprise, for Mr. Greenspan is the ultimate
oligarch...
(full article)

Seeds of Distraction: The Biotech Companies
Want Us
to Consider Everything Except Their Motives by George Monbiot

The question is as
simple as this: do you want a few corporations to monopolize the global
food supply? If the answer is yes, you should welcome the announcement the
government is expected to make today, that the commercial planting of a GM
crop in Britain can go ahead. If the answer is no, you should regret it.
The principal promotional effort of the genetic engineering industry is to
distract us from this question. . . (full
article)

This is the last time
we saw him alive, an average size man with a microphone, gazing out from
the screen, meeting our eyes, but unable to recognize them, to help and to
comfort because he is only a photographed figure and cannot see beyond the
flat world which contains him. He is alive because he moves and because he
speaks, because he was alive when the film was taken; but also
dead—photographed people always are, already a memory. . . (full
article)

Are We Waging An Anti-Civilizational War?
America and Israel on the Front Line of Colonialismby M. Junaid Alam

For the past five
hundred years, humanity has witnessed the ascension of a civilization
which acclaims the Rights of Man but kills non-white man wherever it finds
him. The Western authors of social contracts and constitutions granting
freedom and liberty for their kinsmen also granted themselves the freedom
to take liberties with the lives and fate of the non-white world. For
while it was widely understood that humans have certain inalienable
rights, chaining or whipping Black ‘sub-humans’ and expropriating or
uprooting Indian ‘savages’ were considered well within these rights. And
so, within its own selective borders the glowing attributes of Western
civilization shone brightly, but for the untamed darker sections of
humanity, rifles and bayonets, later replaced by bombs and missiles, were
the preferred methods of enlightenment. . . (full
article)

Hindu Nationalism and Orissa: Minorities As Otherby Angana Chatterji

In October 2003, DV contributing writer Angana Chatterji wrote a report on
Orissa for
Communalism Combat about the political economy of Hindutva in the
Indian state. In this article, she continues to map the entrenchment of
the Sangh Parivar, the umbrella group comprised of various Hindu
communalist organizations. . .
(full article)

Think of corporate
influence peddlers and you might envision distant figures working the
halls of Congress and state capitols. But more and more, they roam city
halls, municipal offices and even local shopping malls attempting to snuff
the growing trend of communities setting limits on corporate activities.
But regardless of location, the goal of the corporate lawyers and
lobbyists remains the same: to use the enormous wealth of their employers
to get what they want -- even if it means trampling democracy. . . (full
article)

I am
surprised more people are not a more concerned about the connection
between the Bush administration, Clear Channel Radio and Howard Stern.
This could possibly the most frightening example of a government using
party-friendly corporations to squash dissenting opinions I have ever
seen.

An international group
of religious and scientific leaders Monday appealed to the United States
and all other nuclear states to pledge never to use nuclear weapons and to
reaffirm their commitments to achieving total nuclear disarmament. . .
(full article)

March 8

VP Cheney Helped Cover Up
Pakistani Nuke Proliferation In '89 So
US Could Sell Country Fighter Jets by Jason Leopold

Bush, Vice President
Dick Cheney and top members of the administration reacted with shock when
they found out that Abdul Qadeer Khan, Pakistan’s top nuclear scientist,
spent the past 15 years selling outlaw nations nuclear technology and
equipment. So it was sort of a surprise when Bush, upon finding out about
Khan’s proliferation of nuclear technology, let Pakistan off with a slap
on the wrist. But it was all an act. In fact, it was actually a cover-up
designed to shield Cheney because he knew about the proliferation for more
than a decade and did nothing to stop it. . . (full
article)

Rubber Numbers and the
Sanctity of Human Life

The Expendability of Them
to Attain Our Political Ends by Kim Petersen

In pursuit of their conquest of Iraq both US
President George W. Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair denounced then
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein for deceiving the world and clandestinely
building up stockpiles of WMD. Hussein’s prior use of poison gas (with
Washington’s knowledge) and other horrible deeds had led Bush to declare
in his 2003 State of
the Union address: “If this is not evil, then evil has no meaning!” Bush
claims to answer to a higher calling. He also claims to identify most with
the political philosopher Jesus
Christ who changed his heart. It is curious to contemplate in what way
Christ changed Bush’s heart. . . (full
article)

The Rape of Haitiby Justin Felux

The recent events in
Haiti
are yet another sad chapter in the history of Western imperialism. The
roots of the current crisis trace all the way back to January 1, 1804,
when Toussaint L'Ouverture and his army of African slaves humiliated
France and the rest of the "civilized" world by liberating the island of
St. Domingue, the place now called Haiti. . . (full
article)

Former President Bush
Involved with Donation to Group
with Terrorist Connections by Robert Jensen

Garland's "Somewhere Over
the Rainbow" had just ended. I was lounging around, sipping my
slave-picked Earl Grey from Sri Lanka, and pouring over my May 11, 1911
original edition of Le Petit Journal when the postman rang
twice. A typical Tuesday afternoon, although it could have been
Wednesday this week. Unreal. I'll tell you what was in the parcel post
piece shortly, a bombshell of sorts for America. First, the obligatory
parsing of pain. . . (full article)

Some Billionaires and Many
Workersby Seth Sandronsky

A
Forbes magazine list of global billionaires in 2003 was the longest ever.
Their ranks rose to 587 from 476 the previous year. Bill Gates, co-founder
of Microsoft, was the wealthiest person on the planet as he has been for the
past decade, worth an estimated $46.6 billion in 2003. Second to him was
investor Warren Buffet, whose fortune of $12.4 billion more than tripled to
$42.9 billion. For the top billionaires, there was a five-way tie for sixth
place between the widow of Sam Walton, Wal-Mart founder, and four of her
family members. . . (full article)

Steal a Tree Go to Jail; Steal a Forest,
Meet the President:
The Politics of Timber Theft
by Jeffrey St. Clair

Stealing trees is as old
as the King's timber reserves. The sanctions for such sylvan thievery have
always been harsh. In medieval England, it meant public torture and slow
death. In the US, the levy was a kind of financial death penalty -- triple
damages plus serious jail time. . . According to internal documents from the
US Forest Service, more than 10% of all trees cut off of the national
forests are stolen, usually by timber companies that deliberately log
outside the boundaries of timber sales offered by the agency. The annual
toll involves hundreds of thousands of trees valued at more than $100
million. . . (full article)

Despite
the sweeping victory of staunchly anti-U.S. conservatives in Iran's
elections last month, analysts here believe the tentative detente between
the two countries that began late last year will continue at least through
the November U.S. elections. . . (full article)

March 6-7

Mission Accomplished in
Haiti: Is Venezuela Next?by Kurt Nimmo

Hugo Chavez, in no
uncertain terms, has warned the Bushites he will use the oil weapon against
the United States if Bush attacks Venezuela, America's fourth-largest oil
exporter. "[I]f Mr. Bush is possessed with the madness of trying to blockade
Venezuela, or worse for them, to invade Venezuela in response to the
desperate song of his lackeys... sadly not a drop of petroleum will come to
them from Venezuela," Chavez recently told supporters, according to AFP/Reuters.
Is Chavez paranoid? Hardly. . .
(full article)

US and France Kiss and Makeup, Haitian
Democracy Diesby Justin Felux

Leave
it to the New York Times to turn the bloody overthrow of a democratically
elected President into a veritable love story. In an article published on
March 3rd entitled "U.S. and France Set Aside Differences in Effort to
Resolve Haiti Conflict" the newspaper of record reported that "the joint
diplomacy over Haiti is a dramatic example of how the longtime allies can
set aside differences, find common ground, play to their strengths and even
operate in an atmosphere of trust." The story goes on to weave a tale so
charming and rosy that one would never guess scores of people were being
needlessly slaughtered in the background. . . (full
article)

Bush or Kerry? Look Closely
and the Danger is the Sameby John Pilger

A
myth equal to the fable of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction is gaining
strength on both sides of the Atlantic. It is that John Kerry offers a
world-view different from that of George W Bush. Watch this big lie grow as
Kerry is crowned the Democratic candidate and the "anyone but Bush" movement
becomes a liberal cause celebre. . . (full
article)

Kerry’s Foreign Policy Record Suggests Few
Differences with Bush by Stephen Zunes

Those who had hoped that
a possible defeat of President George W. Bush in November would mean real
changes in U.S. foreign policy have little to be hopeful about now that
Massachusetts Senator John Kerry has effectively captured the Democratic
presidential nomination. . . (full article)

Nearly thirty months
after President Bush declared open season on Osama bin Laden, the
much-vaunted U.S. spring offensive along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border
is getting ready to roll. According to the Miami Herald, “the Central
Intelligence Agency has moved at least two unmanned aerial vehicles, both
armed with Hellfire missiles, from Iraq to Afghanistan, and that the
military's Central Command is moving an unspecified number of Special
Forces soldiers from Iraq to Afghanistan.” The offensive, which may
produce a Spring Shocker, a Summer Stunner or an October Surprise, is
clearly aimed at capturing and/or killing al Qaeda’s terrorist leader.
But, while bin Laden’s capture or death may give the flagging re-election
fortunes of George W. Bush a much needed boost, it will not put an end to
terrorism or the war against terrorism. Just as the capture of Saddam
Hussein didn’t end the resistance in Iraq, bin Laden’s capture or death
will not end terrorism in Afghanistan. . . (full
article)

Outsourcing the Friedman
by Naomi Klein

Thomas Friedman hasn't
been this worked up about free trade since the anti-World Trade Organization
protests in Seattle. Back then, he told New York Times readers that the work
environment in a Sri Lankan Victoria's Secret factory was so terrific "that,
in terms of conditions, I would let my own daughters work" there. He never
did update readers on how the girls enjoyed their stint stitching
undergarments, but Friedman has since moved on--now to the joys of
call-center work in Bangalore. These jobs, he wrote on February 29, are
giving young people "self-confidence, dignity and optimism"--and that's not
just good for Indians, but for Americans as well. Why? Because happy workers
paid to help US tourists locate the luggage they've lost on Delta flights
are less inclined to strap on dynamite and blow up those same planes. . . (full
article)

What We Can Learn from
Ashcroft's Gallbladderby Mickey Z.

I just read in the
New York Times that Attorney General John Ashcroft was "hospitalized in an
intensive care unit for a severe case of gallstone pancreatitis." I'm not
gonna take the low road and use this occasion to mock the worse Attorney
General since....um, Janet Reno? In fact, as ruthless and repressive as
Ashcroft can be, I do hear he has a sweet side. Recently, in light of all
the trouble Iraq is having in coming up with a constitution, Ashcroft was
kind enough to offer them ours. He figures, hey, we're not using it anyway
(insert rimshot here). But I digress. What I did want to point out in
light of the gallstone heard 'round the world, is this: It matters little
if you love the NEA or the NRA; there are physical laws that cannot be
ignored. For example, gravity applies whether you vote for Kerry, Bush, or
Nader. The same can be said for the side effects of nuclear energy,
electro-magnetic radiation, exhaust fumes...and pharmaceuticals. . . (full
article)

Radical Continuity: An
Interview with Paul Buhleby Derek Seidman

There is probably no one in the world that
knows more about the history of American radicalism than Paul Buhle. A
former member of Students for a Democratic Society and a disciple of CLR
James, Buhle founded the journal Radical America as well as the Oral
History of the American Left project. He is the author/editor of nearly
thirty books, including: Images of American Radicalism, Marxism in the
United States, Radical Hollywood: The Untold Story behind America’s
Favorite Movies, The Encyclopedia of the American Left, The Immigrant Left
in the United States, The New Left Revisited, Insurgent Images: The
Agitprop Murals of Mike Alewitz, and the forthcoming From the Lower
Eastside to Hollywood: Jews in American Popular Culture. Buhle is
currently teaching at Brown University. Left Hook’s Derek Seidman recently
caught up with him for a short interview. . . (full
interview)

Democrats Slam Bush Administration Over
Aristide Ousterby Jim Lobe

The Bush
administration's role in facilitating the ouster of Haitian President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide came under sharp and sustained attack by Democrats
in Congress Wednesday, while leaders of the of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)
called for an independent investigation into the circumstances that led to
his exile aboard a U.S.-chartered jet Sunday. . . (full
article)

. .
. And God Saidby
Norma Sherry

It would appear that the
messages Pat Robertson has been hearing from God are not from God at all,
but a cruel, conniving imposter. It’s sad, but true. But,
he’s in very good company. For instance, my 4-year-old neighbor predicted
that if she kissed a raindrop she’d become a fairy princess. Clearly, she’s
no prophet, either.

There have been many
self-proclaimed prophets in our history. . . (full
article)

Destroying Pension Rightsby Ralph Nader

Over thirty years ago,
I started the Pension Rights Center which concerned itself with such
issues as shortening the time of corporate pensions vesting or improving
their portability for job-changing employees. No one nightmared that
companies would dramatically cut their contributions to these defined
benefit plans during years of economic growth and record company profits.
That is not the least of a trail of broken promises by these vastly
overpaid corporate executives (with their gigantic special pensions) to
their loyal workers. . . (full article)

LOS ANGELES: After four months
and 18 days on strike and locked out, grocery workers in Southern California
voted February 28 to accept a new three-year contract. Voting on the
contract was confined to a single day in which the workers, members of the
United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), received the contract and had to
decide how to vote. Although 59,000 workers were involved in the strike and
lockout, just 17,000 votes were required to approve the contract--and union
leaders claimed an 86 percent "yes" vote. The contract gives in on almost
all the major demands by the nation’s biggest grocery chains. . .
(full article)

March 4

Assuming the Right to
Intervene
by Norman Solomon

If Mark Twain were living
now instead of a century ago -- when he declared himself “an
anti-imperialist” and proclaimed that “I am opposed to having the eagle put
its talons on any other land” -- the famous writer’s views would exist well
outside the frame of today’s mainstream news media. In the current era, it’s
rare for much ink or air time to challenge the right of the U.S. government
to directly intervene in other countries. Instead, the featured arguments
are about whether -- or how -- it is wise to do so in a particular
instance. It’s not just a matter of American boots on the ground and bombs
from the sky. Much more common than the range of overt violence from U.S.
military actions is the process of deepening poverty from economic
intervention. Outside the media glare, Washington’s routine policies involve
pulling financial levers to penalize nations that have leaders who displease
the world’s only superpower. . . (full
article)

Regime Change in Haiti: A
Coup By Any Other Name
by Mark Weisbrot

We still don't know the
exact circumstances of President Aristide's departure from Haiti last
Sunday. Aristide, as well as some members of the U.S. Congress, call it a
kidnapping. The Bush Administration denies these charges. But one thing
seems clear: he did not voluntarily step down from the presidency. He was
forced out, and the United States helped force him out. . (full
article)

Godfather Colin Powell: The
Gangster of Haiti
by Glen Ford and Peter Gamble

The new order
congeals like blood on the streets of Port-au-Prince. Haiti’s dance of death
begins anew, a convergence of low-life assassins, high-living compradors,
preening French imperialists and global American pirates – an unspeakable
bacchanal. . . (full article)

The US-Backed Coup in Haiti
Continues
by Heather Williams and Karl Laraque

With President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide driven out of Haiti U.S. officials now magnanimously
declare that Haiti can start a new chapter in its history. Declaring with
the same straight face he wore when insisting there were WMDs in Iraq, that
the U.S. and its partners in an international force will sponsor a
"responsive, functioning, non-corrupt government" in Haiti, Secretary of
State Colin Powell has dismissed charges from Representative Maxine Waters,
TransAfrica founder Randall Robinson, and members of the Congressional Black
Caucus that what took place on Sunday morning in Port Au Prince was a palace
coup rather than a resignation. Whatever the precise circumstances of
President Aristide's exit from power, there is little question three days
later that occupying powers have every intention of cobbling together a new
ruling order from an odious collection of armed groups with grim agendas. .
. (full article)

"A War Waged on the Aristide Regime":
Author Robert Fatton
on the Background to the Crisis
by Eric Ruder

Robert Fatton is the
Haitian-born author of Haiti’s Predatory Republic: The Unending
Transition to Democracy. He teaches political science at the
University of Virginia. Fatton talked to Socialist Worker’s Eric
Ruder after the U.S. government engineered the toppling of Haitian President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide. . . (full article)

If John Kerry is the Answer,
What is the Question?
by William Blum

Of all the issues that
the presidential campaign will revolve around, none is more important to me
than foreign policy. I say this not because that is my area of specialty,
but because the bombings, invasions, coups d'état, depleted uranium, and
other horrors that are built into United States foreign policy regularly
bring to the people of the world much more suffering and despair than any
American domestic policy does at home. I do not yearn for "anybody but
Bush". I yearn for a president who will put an end to Washington's
interminable indecent interventions against humanity. This is, moreover, the
only way to end the decades-long hatred that has spawned so many
anti-American terrorists. So desperate am I to have the chance to vote for
someone like that, that a few days ago I allowed myself to feel a bit buoyed
when John Kerry, in response to a question about the situation in Haiti,
said that the Bush administration "has a theological and ideological hatred
for Aristide" which has led to the administration "empowering" the rebels.
To me that remark revealed a significant nuance of understanding of the
world of US foreign policy that rarely makes it to the lips of an American
politician. Could it be, I wondered, that Kerry is actually a cut or two
above prevailing wisdom and rhetoric on such matters? (full
article)

Mainstream Media Fails
Itself
by Peter Phillips

On February 29, Richard
Boucher from the U.S. Department of State released a press release claiming
that Jean Bertrand Aristide had resigned as president of Haiti and that the
United State facilitated his safe departure. Within hours the major
broadcast news stations in the United States including CNN, Fox, ABC, NBC,
CBS, and NPR were reporting that Aristide had fled Haiti. An Associated
Press release that evening said "Aristide resigns, flees into exile." The
next day headlines in the major newspapers across the country, including the
Washington Post, USA Today, New York Times, and Atlanta Journal
Constitution, all announced "Aristide Flees Haiti." The Baltimore sun
reported, "Haiti's first democratically-elected president was forced to flee
his country yesterday like despots before him." However on Sunday afternoon
February 29, Pacific News network with reporters live in Port-au-Prince
Haiti were claiming that Aristide was forced to resign by the US and taken
out of the Presidential Palace by armed US marines. On Monday morning Amy
Goodman with Democracy
Now! news show interviewed Congresswoman Maxine Waters. Waters said she
had received a phone call from Aristide at 9:00 AM EST March 1 in which
Aristide emphatically denied that he had resigned and said that he had been
kidnapped by US and French forces. Aristide made calls to others including
TransAfrica founder Randall Robinson, who verified congresswomen Waters'
report. Mainstream corporate media was faced with a dilemma. . .
(full article)

Breaking the Chains of
Illusion
by David Edwards

Many of the dissident philosophers and
rebels of the past like Rousseau, Rocker, Tolstoy, Thoreau, Emerson and
Fromm wrote often about the personal experiences, motivations and concerns
that informed their political dissent. Tolstoy, for example, eventually
came spectacularly clean about his life as a writer: “Horribly strange,
but I now understand it all. Our genuine, sincere concern was how to gain
as much money and fame as possible. And the only thing we knew how to do
in order to achieve this was to write books and journals.” (Tolstoy, A
Confession, Penguin, 1987, p.24) This was a deeply personal comment,
but it shone a brilliant light on the intellectual culture of Tolstoy’s
time, and ours. But today, personal, psychological, philosophical and
spiritual issues are hardly mentioned at all, with dissidents insisting
that their own experiences are surely of little interest to the public.
The operative theory seems to be that the world is in the mess it’s in
because people do not have access to the facts revealing the criminality
and irrationality of power. . . (full
article)

New Word Order
by Mickey Z.

John Kerry is liberal, Wesley Clark is
anti-war, and an un-elected president is seeking re-election. When Colin
Powell recently said: "Whether or not he is able to effectively continue
as president is something he will have to examine carefully," Powell was
not talking about Bush...he was discussing Jean Bertrand Aristide, the
democratically elected president of Haiti (until ousted by "rebels" and
"students"). Of all the beguiling propaganda tactics Corporate America has
cultivated, the usurping of language is the greatest victory of all. (full
article)

Ah!: Arsonists for Haiti?
by Richard Oxman

I almost spilled a hot
cup of coffee on my son's lap when I overheard the talk in the adjacent
booth at Peet's. I think I actually soughed, "Ah!". As George Monbiot
points out in his March 2nd piece, "Extreme
Measures: The Only Way to Bring Down Blair and Change the Political Context
is to Take Direct Action", people taking to the streets "must be
accompanied by polite campaigns of lobbying and letter-writing." However,
he's crystal clear that nothing will happen "unless we get off our butts and
make it happen." He addresses the need to take some risk, and as I read his
words I found myself nodding in agreement, noting the parallels for us in
the U.S. . . (full
article)

Raw Prejudice: The Politics of Gay Marriage
by Doug Ireland

A cartoon in the March 1
New Yorker shows a balding, middle-aged man and his wife gazing at
the telly, as the man says: “Gays and lesbians getting married — haven’t
they suffered enough?” The line is not only funny, but subversive. It hints
at the feminist critique of marriage as an oppressive patriarchal
institution — a view embraced by what used to be called gay liberation,
whose attitudes and analyses a few of us unrepentant queers still share. But
for most same-sexers, gay liberation was long ago supplanted by
assimilationist demands for full gay citizenship. AIDS, more than anything
else, drove the issue of same-sex marriage to the top of the gay agenda —
the pandemic starkly confronted us with partnership issues like health
insurance, visitation rights when we’re ill, property inheritance and a host
of other vital concerns. All of this preceded the desire to participate in
the 1,049 federal rights of marriage (the General Accounting Office’s count)
that benefit gender-discordant couples, but are denied to ours. . . (full
article)

Gaza Striptease
by Roni Ben Efrat

When
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced his decision to withdraw
unilaterally from the Gaza Strip and dismantle 17 settlements, there was
reason, one might think, for celebration in certain quarters. Yet few
rejoiced. There is the uneasy feeling that his words do not bode an end to
the 37-year-old Occupation, rather further entanglement. . . (full
article)

Words Have Failed Us
by Amira Hass

This is an admission of failure. The written
word is a failure at making tangible to Israeli readers the true horror of
the occupation in the Gaza Strip. When something is written about the sea
being closed off to Palestinians in the north and south of the Strip, the
response will be "they are terrorists." If something is written about
neighborhoods in the western part of the Khan Yunis refugee camp and how the
buildings are all full of bullet holes from heavy machine guns and cannon
shells, the response will be "the Palestinians started it." Tell the story
of how 15-year-old Yusuf Bashir's family home in Dir al-Balah has been
turned into an army fortress, and in Israel they'll say, "there is no
choice, the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom must be protected, like Kfar
Dekalim, Atzmona and Morag." A report that the soldiers in a military
position right next to Yusuf's house agreed to allow a UN team into the
family's courtyard will be used in Israel as proof of the humanitarian
attitudes of soldiers who are ready to take risks while doing their duties.
And when it's reported that suddenly one of the soldiers - an officer, as
the IDF spokeswoman would later say - "shot at the wheels of a suspicious
vehicle" (the UN team's car), in Israel that will be a shooting that never
happened. And then, it will be reported that the boy, Yusuf Bashir, was shot
in the back as he waved goodbye to the visitors from the UN, and it is
possible he'll remain paralyzed for life - maybe that word "paralyzed" will
give a few readers pause. But so many stories about so many Yusufs never get
reported, and never will get reported. . .
(full article)

Dearest Dr.
Rape
by Kap Fulton

Imagine if you will,
turning on the television and seeing an infomercial for "breast pills." This
new miracle cure will help women feel confident about their racks in the
hope the miracle pill will add much needed size. The ingenious producers of
this infomercial have brought in a male sexuality expert to explain how men
love the size of women's mammary glands. The doctor rambles on about all the
attention that big boobed women receive. Plausible? Probably not today in
the land of the liberal American who wants to save the whales and kill the
terrorists. Many will be surprised to hear that this infomercial IS being
broadcast across the great land of liberal Americana. The catch: the doctor
is a woman and the mock talk show is advertising for "penis pills." . . . (full
article)

March 2

One Year Later, Justice Still Not Served:
Remembering the Death of Rachel Corrie
by Elizabeth Corrie

Only
a year ago, the approach of the month of March would have held the same
positive associations for me as it has for many -- the beginning of the end
of winter, the promise of springtime and even summer not too far behind.
This year, and for every year for the rest of my life, the approach of March
will mean something else entirely -- the anniversary of the brutal death of
my cousin, Rachel Corrie. On March 16th, 2003, an Israeli soldier and his
commander ran over Rachel with a 9 ton, Caterpillar bulldozer while she
stood -- unarmed, clearly visible in her orange fluorescent jacket --
protecting a Palestinian home slated for demolition by the Israeli army. . .
(full article)

Killing Hope:
Bringing Hell
to Haiti, Part 2
by David Edwards and Media Lens

Jean-Bertrand Aristide
told the Associated Press yesterday that he was forced to leave Haiti by US
military forces. Asked if he left on his own, Aristide answered: “No. I was
forced to leave. Agents were telling me that if I don’t leave they would
start shooting and killing in a matter of time.” (Eliott C. McLaughlin,
Associated Press, March 1, 2004) “Haiti, again, is ablaze”, Jeffrey Sachs,
professor of economics at Columbia University, writes: “Almost nobody,
however, understands that today’s chaos was made in Washington -
deliberately, cynically, and steadfastly. History will bear this out.” . . .
(full article)

Aristide Kidnapped by U.S.
Forces?
by William Rivers Pitt

The front pages of major
American newspapers and the talking heads on the news channels would have
you believe that the resignation of Jean-Bertrand Aristide from his
presidency in Haiti was voluntary. Questions have been raised, however,
about the manner in which his departure unfolded. In short, there is
mounting evidence to suggest that Aristide was removed involuntarily from
power by American forces. . . (full article)

Head of US Security
Firm That Guarded Aristide Speaks Out:
White House Blocked Deployment of More Guards to Protect Aristide
by Amy Goodman and Democracy Now!

Reports emerged yesterday
that the private U.S. security firm guarding President Aristide was
prevented by the White House from sending reinforcements to Haiti last week
to bolster his security. We speak with the CEO of the firm Kenneth Kurtz. .
. (full article)

Haiti: A View from Canada
Does Our New Prime Minister Support Democracy In the Americas
or US Orchestrated Coups?
by Yves Engler

In his first major
foreign policy move Paul Martin’s government faithfully followed the U.S.
(and French) lead in removing the legally elected president of Haiti,
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, from power. Contrast this with the Caribbean
Community (CARICOM) whose chairperson, Jamaican Prime Minister P.J.
Patterson, said in a statement that CARICOM deplored “the removal of
[Haitian] President Aristide “ from office, as setting “a dangerous
precedent for democratically-elected governments anywhere and everywhere.” .
. .
(full article)

Haiti: Dangerous Muddle
by Conn Hallinan

In 1994, when President
Bill Clinton sent 20,000 American troops into Haiti to restore Jean-Bernard
Aristide to the presidency, there was widespread support for a mission aimed
at restoring democracy and relieving the misery of the Haitian people. It
also seemed to herald a new day in the post-cold war world, when American
invasions were not automatically synonymous with supporting some Latin
American caudillo or South East Asian despot. With the exception of the
isolationist Right, virtually every voice in the political spectrum cheered
the policy of “liberal intervention.” The use of American power to make good
things happen was a heady drug. Unfortunately, an addictive one. Although
there is no question that the 1994 intervention was good for Haiti ,
military intervention has turned out to be fraught with problems,
particularly when it is wielded by one country. . .
(full article)

Pastiche
by Paul Dean

Witness the unceasing
workings of the worm upon our world. The worm demands that our understanding
of any political and economic situation is only as deep as yesterday's news.
Haiti’s Aristide is out, (we tried, honest we did, but it was too late to
save him) but now the U.S. Marines, out of concern for our southern
neighbors, will step in to insure the peace. Democracy will reign! Reform
will be the word of the day. And what is the recipe for reform? Reinstate
the pre-form, call it reform, and deform the form of democracy to conform to
the norm, because we win all contests the old fashioned way. Just call it
good old smash-mouth democracy, because the best defense is a good offense.
. . (full article)

So
Where’s Kerry Now? The Downside of Super, Tuesday
by Josh Frank

By the end of Super
Tuesday, John Kerry may well be the Democratic nominee for President of
the United States. Yellow journalists and liberal defenders of the Empire
have been scouring Kerry’s senate records hoping to unearth something,
anything, that could entice progressives and former Deaniacs to come on
board Kerry's vessel of a campaign. . . (full
article)

Colombia-US Free Trade Treaty - Far More
Than Trade: An Article by Emilio Sardi, With Context and Reflections
by Toni Solo

Arguments against
bilateral US "free trade" agreements with other countries that make it
into mainstream Anglophone media tend not to come from industrialists or
business people. But in Latin America many people in private enterprise
are alarmed and disturbed at US attempts to impose its imperialist plans
on their countries. A recent article by Colombian industrialist Emilio
Sardi gives the view of one of Colombia's leading businessmen. It's worth
noting. . . (full article)

The Liberation That Isn't:
Interview with RAWA on Afghanistan
by Ra Ravishankar

While Iraq continues to
hog the headlines, Afghanistan has slipped beyond the mainstream media's
radar screen. In a region of ever-changing allegiances, the
Revolutionary Association of
the Women of Afghanistan has won wide support and respect for its
principled anti-fundamentalist stance. On the current state of affairs in
"liberated" Afghanistan, let's hear from a RAWA representative, who, for
security reasons, will only be identified by her pseudonym Mariam. . . (full
article)

Between Kim Jong Il and a
Hard Place
by John Feffer

Some presidential
candidates have extramarital affairs they hope won't come to light before
the elections. Other candidates fear that a past financial indiscretion will
be revealed just before Americans go to the polls. George W. Bush has Kim
Jong Il.
(full article)

Burn the Maps and Get
Lost in the Territory: Review of Jeffrey St. Clair's
Been Brown So Long It Looked Like Green to Me
by Josh Frank

Politics leaves its
boot-print on almost every aspect of our lives. From our schools to health
care, jobs and the environment, it seems we can never win when up against
the powers that be. Casting our votes for the evil of two lessers, as
dutifully citizens do every election cycle, surely leaves us with a lesser
by the end of the day. So you would think “hope” should be brushed to the
waste side as naïve optimism, clamored to by only the most stubborn of
idealists. If this is how you feel, you have yet to pick up the latest book
by environmental writer Jeffrey St. Clair,
Been Brown So Long it Looked Like Green to Me: The Politics of Nature,
where St. Clair masterfully shatters the myth that all hope should be
abandoned. Perhaps the most clairvoyant writer of our times, St. Clair
understands the environmentalist plight like no other living writer. He
recognizes that neither major political body in the US sides with those that
seek to protect our diminishing natural landscapes. He dutifully dissects
the “Big Green” cabal, which claims to be the voice of nature, but instead
drools at the feet of their foundation backers in order to guard their six
figure salaries. . . (full article)

The Splendid Failure of Occupation, Part
Eight
American Modified and Accepted Hitlerism
by B.J. Sabri

We have tentatively
established that mentality is a precursor to ideology, which in turn acts as
a unified system of thought, action, and alibi. In view of that, ideology
and stringent capitalistic control is the locomotive that has been guiding
U.S. power from its early continental colonialistic expansions, through
global imperialistic domination, to its current hyper-imperialistic
consolidation of empire. . . (full article)

Extreme Measures: We Can’t
Rely on the Establishment To Topple Tony Blair, We Must Do it Ourselves
by George Monbiot

So now what happens? Our
prime minister is up to his neck in it. His attorney-general appears to have
changed his advice about the legality of the war a few days before it began.
Blair refuses to release either version, apparently for fear that he will be
exposed as a liar and a war criminal. His government seems to have been
complicit in the illegal bugging of friendly foreign powers and the United
Nations. It went to war on the grounds of a threat which was both imaginary
and known to be imaginary. Now the opposition has withdrawn from his fake
inquiry. Seldom has a prime minister been so exposed and remained in office.
Surely Blair will fall? (full article)

Oscar
Smiles on "Fog of War" and its Warnings on Iraq
by Harvey Wasserman

Even on Oscar night, the
war in Vietnam still rages. With a billion people glued to their tubes, the
old battle cry that "the whole world is watching" was once again true. As
"Fog of War" won Sunday night for best documentary, we have an AWOL
president prancing in a flight suit he did not earn, and a Democratic
front-runner who was a hero on both sides an issue that still deeply divides
us. . . (full article)

March 1

Bringing Hell to Haiti, Part 1
by David Edwards and Media Lens

Have you noticed how stupid you feel when
you watch the news? Hands up anybody who understands what’s going on in
Haiti? The media is good at repeatedly broadcasting footage of armed gangs
roaming in trucks, and of quoting senior officials. But the absence of
meaningful context and informed analysis ­ and above all the unwillingness
to question the official version of events - means that it is often
literally impossible for viewers to make sense of what is happening. For
all their satellite communications and computer-generated studios, the
news media often do not give us news at all ­ they give us noise. . . (full
article)

War for Souls in Iraq: In their Zeal to
Convert Muslims, are US Evangelicals
Ignoring the Suffering of Iraq's Christians?
by Bill Berkowitz

Last March, in anticipation of a quick U.S.
victory, several U.S. Christian evangelical organizations set their sights
on delivering band-aids and Bibles to Iraq. Now, more than eleven months
later, concerned that the window of opportunity will soon be slammed shut,
evangelical groups are hustling about the country. Ironically, while these
U.S.-based Christian missionaries are struggling to convert Muslims, the
country's Christian community -- numbering less than one million out of a
population of 23-25 million and made up of mostly Assyrian Catholics -- is
under attack. . . (full article)

Friedman's Education: Tommy Boy Pats
Some Good
Little Indians on the Head
by Mickey Z.

Criticizing the
op-ed columns of Thomas L. Friedman is often redundant. His writing is so
laughable, one is typically tempted to "stand back and let it all be" (as
The Boss might suggest). However, on February 29, 2004, Tommy Boy took his
standard paean to globalization to a new level of smugness and oblivion.
In a column called "30 Little Turtles," he tells of visiting an "accent
neutralization" class at the call center 24/7 Customer in Bangalore,
India. . . (full article)

Oscar's Obituary
by Richard Oxman

I knew it the moment I saw
Michael Moore crushed underfoot by a huge monster. Or was it a dinosaur?
The action was so fast-paced, I honestly can't remember what it was that
shut him up in mid-speech. But what I do remember is that he allowed
Hollywood to bury his anti-Bush banter/blather of 2003. In allowing Oscar
to ridicule his remarks during its prelude to this year's presentations,
he joined hands with reactionary forces in La La Land to move in lockstep
with our sitting president. At that early point, I knew the whole show --
in spite of our simultaneous stripping of Aristide -- was slated
to be a Patriotic Parade. . .
(full article)

Leaked Classified
Memo
by Ductape Fatwa

Dear Messrs. Tenet and Cheney,

Attached please find the results of our
latest and we believe, our most impressive, effort to provide the
Occupation Forces a credible Osama bin Laden in time for the fall launch
of your new automated vote "tally" system. We understand the new system is
modeled on the manual process that has been employed so successfully in
Egypt for many years, and we would like to extend our congratulations to
the Diebold company for this significant contribution to democracy. . . (full
article)

Grave and Gathering
Dangers: The War President's Threat
to National and Global Security (Part I of III: War Against Science,
Health and the Environment)
by Manuel Valenzuela

The tip of the iceberg continues its ominous
melting and the giant unseen mass of ice below remains submerged, a grave
and gathering danger lying waiting in the path of the vessel that is human
existence. The state of the planet’s environment and by consequence human
health continues its steady decline, in no small part a result of the Bush
administration’s ignorant and hypnotizing love of the almighty dollar and
the Corporate Leviathan that has shredded rules, regulations and
protections once designed to slow the progress of environmental
devastation. Today, after three years of the war president’s reign, our
environment and health have been methodically pilfered through a carefully
orchestrated strategy of lies, deceits and appointments designed to
suppress and alter scientific fact and facilitate the Leviathan’s
unhindered exploitation of land and man. . . (full
article)

Credit Card Crack
by Stephen Pizzo

Borrow, spend—borrow, spend. No, I am
not talking about the Bush administration this time. I'm talking about you.
That's right, you, the American consumer. Not only is the ship of state
heading full steam towards the shoals of deficit disaster, but its
passengers continue to party as the band plays on. An administration chorus
accompanies the band, singing the praises of rising economic indicators. But
their jaunty ditty highlights only carefully selected indices. There are all
kinds of rising indicators—some good, some bad. The administration's hymnal
only lists the good rising indicators. Let's look at them all: the good, bad
and the ugly. . .
(full article)